Just F Y I, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2023 who went winless in three starts in 2024, is nearing her return to the races.
Just F Y I has worked seven times at Payson Park since New Year’s Day, including a five-furlong move in 1:03 on Sunday. Trainer Bill Mott said he has not yet picked out a return race for Just F Y I.
“I want to make sure she’s ready,” Mott said Monday from Florida. “She’s doing well. I could run her here [Gulfstream], or run her at Keeneland, or wait for New York for that matter.”
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Just F Y I went 3 for 3 as a 2-year-old, with Grade 1 victories in the Frizette at Aqueduct and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita.
At 3, Just F Y I finished second to Leslie’s Rose in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland in April and second to Thorpedo Anna in the Kentucky Oaks in May. Just F Y I finished sixth, beaten 22 lengths by Thorpedo Anna, in the Grade 1 Acorn at Saratoga in June and was “jammed up” coming out of that race, Mott said. Just F Y I was turned out for the remainder of the year.
Meanwhile, Resilience, the 2024 Wood Memorial winner who finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby, has recently returned to the work tab, working three furlongs on both Feb. 8 and Feb. 15 at Payson Park. Mott stopped on Resilience after his last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes because Mott didn’t like the way the colt was moving out of the race.
Mott credited the owners of Just F Y I, George Krikorian, and Resilience, Emily Bushnell and Ric Waldman, for allowing him to give the horses the time off they needed.
“They would like to see them run back at their best level, whatever that is,” Mott said.
Meanwhile, Mott said Grand Job, second as the favorite in Saturday’s Royal Delta Stakes, and Knightsbridge, second as the favorite in a Saturday allowance race, both emerged from their races in good order.
Regarding Grand Job, Mott said, “she broke real well, got caught up in a bit of a fast pace. Consequently, it caused her to tire.”
Mott said he was disappointed that Knightsbridge got beat but said “that race should help him. Sometimes they benefit from getting beat.”
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