Fasig-Tipton February: Baryshnikov sold to Indiana farm for $7,000

Baryshnikov, a Grade 2-placed stakes-winning stallion, was purchased by Blaine Davidson for $7,000 on Monday at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale to stand privately at his Terre Haute, Ind., farm.

The 9-year-old Empire Maker horse’s first foals are yearlings of 2015. He sired eight foals in his first crop, standing his debut season at Oak Lodge Stud in Paris, Ky.

“I thought he was well worth the money,” Davidson said. “Being by Empire Maker, I liked him when I saw him in the catalog. I needed a bigger stud, and he’s already bred so you don’t have to teach him how to do that. I can just start breeding him.”

Baryshnikov was relocated to Silver Bridle Racing in Springboro, Ohio, for the 2015 breeding season, but he was placed in the winter mixed sale catalog in the midst of an FBI investigation of Silver Bridle Racing’s principals, William and Connie Apostelos. Shanon Nicole, a Grade 3-placed stakes-winning Majestic Warrior filly, was also identified as an asset in the FBI’s report and was sold earlier in the day for $220,000.

Baryshnikov won 7 of 40 starts during his on-track career for earnings of $350,778.

He earned his marquee win in the Tejano Run Stakes at Turfway Park and also placed in the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap, Dixie Stakes, and Bernard Baruch Handicap, as well as the Grade 3 Oceanport Stakes. Baryshnikov was claimed for $40,000 by a partnership including Connie Apostelos prior to his graded stakes-level success.

Bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Farm, Baryshnikov is out of the multiple Grade 3-winning Baldski mare Ski Dancer, who is the dam of four winners from six foals to race. He is from the family of multiple Grade 3 winner Southern Tradition and Puerto Rican champion Sweet Kitten.

Baryshnikov was consigned at the winter mixed sale by Paramount Sales, agent.