The yearling Empire Maker filly out of grade I winner Versailles Treaty has been scratched from the Keeneland January horses of all ages auction and will be raced by Daisy Phipps. The bay filly was scheduled to be sold Tuesday as part of the dispersal of horses owned by the late Cynthia Phipps, which is being handled by the Hancock family's Claiborne Farm. Phipps, who died last October, was Daisy Phipps' aunt.
"The Wheatley (Stable) colors were left to Cynthia to race in and now Daisy is picking up those colors," said Dell Hancock of Claiborne. "She (the filly) will be Daisy's first horse to race in the Wheatley colors, so it couldn't be better. We took an OCD (osteochondritis dissecans lesion) out (of the filly), and so she was a little bit behind the other yearlings, but she'll have time to catch up now. I hope Daisy has a ton of luck with her. She's a nice filly."
The yearling is a half-sister to the stallion Saarland (by Unbridled), who scored in the 2001 Remsen Stakes (gr. II) and finished second in the 2003 Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I).