ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The 157th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate at Woodbine is a month away, and the main contenders are beginning to put in their final preps for the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown on July 3.

Two key local preps for the Queen’s Plate – the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks and the $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes – are scheduled for Sunday, June 12, and the fields for those 1 1/8-mile races are beginning to take shape.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jack Van Berg turns 80 on Tuesday, so it’s little wonder he’s hobbled. He’s overdue for a knee replacement, and his back has been absolutely killing him for years. And don’t even get him started on his heart.

“Got sick three years ago and almost died,” he said.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Calculator, second to Catalina Red in the Churchill Downs on Derby Day, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap, trainer Peter Miller said Thursday.

Miller is making a few adjustments to Calculator’s equipment that he hopes will help the colt relax. First, he is cutting back the colt’s blinkers. Second, he is changing bits.

“He doesn’t break real quick, then he ends up running up on heels,” Miller said “We’re just trying to get him to relax a little better.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – The undefeated Unified will get his first start around two turns in the Grade 3 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth on June 18. On Thursday, he got his first two-turn workout, going seven furlongs in 1:30.13 over the Belmont training track.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Mubtaahij, second to California Chrome in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March, worked a half-mile in 48.38 seconds Thursday over the Belmont Park main track. It was his second work since joining trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s stable a few weeks ago.

McLaughlin said Mubtaahij is targeting the Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban Handicap on July 9.

Working by himself and breaking off at the three-furlong pole, Mubtaahij went the first furlong 11.80 seconds, went from the quarter pole to the wire in 23.68 seconds, and from the wire to the 1 3/8-mile pole in 12.90.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Four-time Grade 1 winner Private Zone completed preparations for his 7-year-old debut in next Friday’s Grade 2 True North at Belmont Park by working a sharp half-mile in 46.07 seconds Thursday morning out of the gate over Belmont’s main track.

It was his seventh work and first from the gate since he resumed training earlier this year. Private Zone has not run since finishing fifth as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 28.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Illuminant, the winner of the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares on turf Monday, may have two starts in Grade 2 stakes on turf during the Del Mar summer meeting that runs from July 15 to Sept. 5.

Trainer Michael McCarthy said on Thursday that he prefers to give Illuminant approximately six weeks between races. Under that schedule, Illuminant could run in the $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on July 16 and the $200,000 John C. Mabee Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on Sept. 4.

ARCADIA, Calif. – There are several absences among local horses for Saturday’s $400,000 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita, notably Obviously, the gelding who won the race in 2013 and 2014.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said on Thursday that he considered starting Obviously in the Grade 1 Shoemaker, but the aging runner is more likely for graded stakes at Belmont Park or Churchill Downs this month.

“He’s an 8-year-old gelding and has won his Grade 1,” D’Amato said. “We’re looking for the best opportunity to make money.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer David Fawkes had been on the fence as to whether to ship Sheer Drama to Belmont for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps next Saturday or just await the Delaware Handicap, a race she won for her first Grade 1 victory last July.

But Fawkes was on the fence no longer after watching Sheer Drama work five furlongs in 59.32 seconds and gallop out six furlongs in 1:12.80 on Thursday at Gulfstream Park.

“I thought she went great, finished well,” said Fawkes.

Trainer Mark Casse plans to run the filly Catch a Glimpse, a winner of six straight, and the colt Airoforce in the $500,000 Penn Mile on Saturday night at Penn National Race Course. Catch a Glimpse, the expected favorite in the seven-horse Penn Mile, will be facing males for the first time.