Niniski
American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse
Niniski (15 February 1976 – November 1998) was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from October 1978 until October 1980, he ran fourteen times and won six races. After showing some promise in his early races he emerged as a top-class stayer in the autumn on 1979, winning the Geoffrey Freer Stakes, Irish St. Leger and Prix Royal-Oak. In the spring of 1981 he won the John Porter Stakes and the Ormonde Stakes but was beaten in his three remaining races. He was retired to stud where he became a very successful breeding stallion.
Background
Niniski was a bay horse with a white blaze and three white socks, bred in Kentucky by Caper Hill Farm Inc. Niniski was sired by Nijinsky, the Canadian-bred winner of the English Triple Crown in 1970 who went on to become an important breeding stallion, siring horses such as Ferdinand, Lammtarra, Sky Classic and Shahrastani. Niniski's dam Virginia Hills was a granddaughter of the Fashion Stakes winner Ridin' Easy, herself a descendant of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Pearl Cap, making her a distant relative of Pearl Diver, Belmez, Lypharita (Prix de Diane), Fine Pearl (Prix de Diane) and Yelapa (Grand Critérium).
As a yearling the colt was sent to the sales at Saratoga and bought by representatives of Lady Beaverbrook for $90,000.
The public source identifies “Niniski” as american-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Niniski, American-bred and Thoroughbred.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17012529. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1998, 1978 and 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “Niniski” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.