Untapable, Lovely Maria to Clash in Spinster

The past two winners of the Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) are scheduled to meet Sunday, Oct. 4 when Keeneland closes out a spectacular opening weekend of stakes races with the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (gr. I).

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Untapable and Brereton Jones' Lovely Maria, the 2014 and '15 Oaks winners, resprectively, were entered Thursday as part of a field of nine fillies and mares for the 60th running of the 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares 3 and older.

The Spinster is a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" race to the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) Oct. 30 at Keeneland.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Untapable will be making her Keeneland racing debut Sunday. The champion 3-year-old filly of 2014, Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred Untapable won four grade I races last year with her Distaff victory clinching divisional honors.

Untapable's lone victory in five starts this season came in the Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I) April 10 at Oaklawn Park but she has registered top-three finishes in all five of her starts, all graded stakes. In her most recent race, the Tapit   filly finished third in the Personal Ensign Stakes (gr. I) Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course.

John Velazquez will have the mount Sunday and break from post position three. Velazquez won the 2012 Spinster on In Lingerie.

Brereton Jones' Lovely Maria this spring became the first filly since Silverbulletday in 1999 to win the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (gr. I) at Keeneland and Kentucky Oaks. Trained by Larry Jones and ridden by Kerwin Clark from post position one, the daughter of Majesticperfection   enters Sunday's race off a sixth-place finish in the Alabama Stakes (gr. I) Aug. 22 at Saratoga.

On Sunday, Lovely Maria will try to become the fifth filly to win the Spinster and the Ashland in the same year. That same-season double was accomplished most recently by Emollient in 2013. The others have been Take Charge Lady (2002), Optimistic Gal (1976), and Doubledogdare (1956).

According to Keeneland, the matchup of Kentucky Oaks winners is the first since Silverbulletday and Keeper Hill (1998) finished fourth and fifth in the 2000 Louisville Breeders' Cup (gr. II) at Churchill Downs.

One entrant in the Spinster already has earned a Breeders' Cup berth, G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s homebred Frivolous. The 5-year-old Empire Maker   mare won the Fleur de Lis Stakes (gr. II) at Churchill, a "Win and You're In" to the Distaff.

Trained by Vicki Oliver, Frivolous won the Locust Grove at Churchill by eight lengths on Sept. 12 under Jon Court, who will have the mount Sunday and break from the outside in the expected field of nine.

The Spinster will highlight a 5 p.m. broadcast on NBC that also will include the $250,000 Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (gr. IIIT).