Divine Queen tops fifth day of Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale at $270,00

Multiple stakes winner Divine Queen topped the fifth day of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale when selling to Avout Bloodstock for $270,000, in a robust market that saw sustained demand for mares and broodmare prospects.

The session saw 235 horses change hands for $13,032,000, with an average price of $55,455 and a $42,000 median price. The RNA rate was 19.5 per cent. At the comparable session in 2019, there were 251 horses that averaged $56,851 on total receipts of $14,269,500, with a $43,000 median.

The five-year-old session-topper is a daughter of Divine Park who won the Dogwood and Open Mind Stakes at Churchill Downs and earned $339,334 from six wins in 23 starts for her breeders, Carl Hurst and William 'Buff' Bradley, who also trained the mare.

"We bred her, foaled her, raised her and raced her, and we just sold her," Bradley said. "Pretty much like we did Groupie Doll [two-time champion sold for $3.1 million].

"We were very excited to race this filly and then sell her as a mare and know she was going to go somewhere good. We have a lot of the family, and we have to keep the cash flow going and get ready for the young ones coming along.

"She had a lot of class. She showed it in the ring, walking up here, she's all class. She was a very sound racemare; never once did she have a problem. I think we are very proud of that. The price was a bit more than what we were thinking, but we're very happy with it."

Evans said: "She is a great-moving filly with a great walk on her. She just showed her class that last two days. I think it was great to have her [in Book 3] for that reason [to stand out]."

The top-priced weanling was Hip 1586, a Nyquist colt purchased by Sycamore for $225,000 from Mulholland Springs.

Among the pleased consignors was Francis Vanlangendonck, whose Summerfield operation sold all four horses put through the ring on Friday for total receipts of $232,000.

"It was a lot better than I anticipated," Vanlangendonck said, noting the fervent demand for weanlings. "For the babies, it's been really, really good. The buyers were pretty aggressive. It seems like for these lowered-value weanlings, there is a world of people wanting to buy. Those well conformed that vetted good sold really well, and even some that had issues are starting to sell."

Through the first five sessions of the auction, being conducted with Covid-19 protocols, Keeneland sold 1,028 horses for $134,078,000, compared with 1,159 that grossed $169,102,700 through the same period during the non-pandemic sale a year ago.

The sale continues through to Wednesday, with sessions beginning at 10am local time.

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