Cafe Pharoah, the top-ranked active 3-year-old in the standings for Kentucky Derby prospects in Japan, will have his first start in four months in Sunday’s Grade 3 Unicorn Stakes at a mile at Tokyo Racecourse.

The $630,825 Unicorn Stakes is one of two remaining races on the schedule of prep races in Japan for the Kentucky Derby. The final race in the series is the Japan Dirt Derby at Oi Racecourse on July 8. The horse with the most points in the series will earn a berth in the 20-horse field for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The 3-year-old Gouverneur Morris has developed a leg infection that could put an intended start in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on July 11 at Keeneland in jeopardy.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said Gouverneur Morris was sent to the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland earlier in the week, where he would undergo oxygen-tank treatment. He is expected to be there for at least a week.

“It puts the Blue Grass as a question mark,” Pletcher said Friday. “The Peter Pan could be in play, we’ll just have to play it by ear.”

A horse that wins the Haskell, the Kentucky Derby, and the Breeders’ Cup Classic this year will be awarded a $1 million bonus by Monmouth Park, the host track of the Haskell, Monmouth announced Thursday.

WHO’S HOT
Late developers Uncle Chuck, who got a Beyer Speed Figure of 95 when debuting going two turns against maidens at Santa Anita, and Art Collector, who got an even bigger figure of 100 when beating allowance runners at Churchill Downs, are the two newest members of the Derby Watch top 20 following wins last week. Uncle Chuck is 15-1 on the line set by Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, with Art Collector at 20-1.

WHO’S NOT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ron Moquett is fiercely proud of his Arkansas heritage, so there was a little something extra to a race he won last week at Churchill Downs.

Moquett sent out an Arkansas-bred named Man in the Can to win a 1 1/8-mile first-level allowance for 3-year-olds on Friday. He earned a second straight 87 Beyer Speed Figure and is now 4 for 5, and likely will get a shot at making the Kentucky Derby with his next start.

“I think he’ll fit with a lot of these other 3-year-olds,” said Moquett. “He’s an improving horse at the right time.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has some key decisions to make regarding the future itineraries of his Kentucky Derby-bound 3-year-old Ny Traffic and Kentucky Oaks-bound 3-year-old filly Tonalist’s Shape, with the pair sharing top billing on Sunday’s work tab at Gulfstream Park.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – You might say Bruce Lunsford has expanded his horizons since he got into racing in the mid-1980s by partnering on lower-level claiming horses trained by Phil Thomas Jr.

WHO’S HOT

ELMONT, N.Y. – Mischevious Alex, winner of the Grade 3 Gotham on March 7, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds Tuesday morning over the main track at Parx Racing. He is preparing for a start in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on June 20 at Belmont Park.

Servis said he worked Mischevious Alex behind another horse “more than anything to get a good work in him,” he said.

Servis said he wanted Mischevious Alex to have a good gallop-out but the rider had to pull him up shortly past the wire because there was a loose horse on the track at the time.

In a year where the events in the world, let alone racing, are dizzying, the Kentucky Derby now has as a top contender in a horse who didn’t even make his debut until the day the final leg of the Triple Crown was supposed to be run.