Luxor Cafe

Luxor Cafe earned a reserved spot in the starting gate for the 2025 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve by winning two of the four races designated as part of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby, the Hyacinth Stakes on Feb. 23 and the Fukuryu Stakes on March 29. Those were the third and fourth wins in a row for the Kentucky-bred son of 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, and gave him a total of 70 qualifying points and a safely secure spot in the May 3 Kentucky Derby.

The bay colt trained by Noriyuki Hori finished fourth and second, the latter by a neck, in his first two career starts in August 2024 and won his final start of that season at Tokyo Racecourse. He then won the Kurochiku Sho at Nakayama Racecourse in January 2025 before taking the Hyacinth Stakes by a half-length at Tokyo and then the Fukuryu Stakes by a dominant five lengths back at Nakayama.

Luxor Cafe is out of the More Than Ready mare Mary’s Follies, who won two graded stakes on turf in the U.S. He is a full brother to Cafe Pharoah, a champion dirt horse in Japan, and a half-brother to U.S. champion female turf horse Regal Glory and to Night Prowler, a two-time Grade 3 winner in the U.S.