Christmas Kid fetches $4.2M at Keeneland

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - The Grade 1-winning mare Christmas Kid brought $4.2 million in the opening hours of Keeneland's November Breeding Stock Sale on Monday.

Coolmore Stud bought the 7-year-old bay mare who is in foal to Bernardini. Christmas Kid, part of the dispersal of Edward P. Evans' Spring Hill Farm, won the Ashland Stakes in 2007.

Two other Grade 1 winners fetched $2.4 million apiece. Alain and Gerard Wertheimer bought Mother Goose winner Buster's Ready and Frank Stronach bought Cat Moves, winner of the 2009 Prioress and sold in foal to Malibu Moon.

Stronach also paid $1.5 million for a weanling half-sister to 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta and Grade 1 winner Balance.

Weekend Strike, a half-sister to Breeders' Cup Mile winner Court Vision, was sold for $2.3 million.

A total of 63 horses were sold as part of the Evans dispersal for gross sales of $40,684,500, an average of $645,786 and a median of $320,000.

Keeneland sold 147 horses for $63,276,500, up 62.3 percent over 2010 when 183 horses brought $38,970,000. Average price rose 102 percent from $212,951 to $430,452. The median of $230,000 increased 64 percent from last year's $140,000.

The Keeneland sale continues through Nov. 17.