Three-time 1st grade winner and millionaire turf star Gufo has been retired.
6 year old son of Declaration of war will arrive on April 5 at WinStar Ranch near Versailles, Ky., where he will be shown as a promising stallion, according to trainer Christophe Clement and first reported by Thoroughbred Daily News.
“He had a setback in March and could be back in the second half of the year, but he’s only six years old and Cainelli believes he’s done enough,” Clement said. “He’s been a great story and a great addition to our stables for the past four years. He’s a beautiful horse and hard to replace.”
Gufo is the first and only racehorse owned by retired Texas physician Dr. Stephen Cainelli, who also bred the horse with his friend and colleague, Dr. John Little. After Little retired as an anesthesiologist, he moved from San Angelo, Texas, to Lexington to start Cave Brook Ranch. Cainelli retired soon after and suggested that they raise a horse together. Cainelli paid for the pony and Little provided the mare. They bred the Petionville Floy mare, the mare that produced the then graded bet winner hogy to the Declaration of War.
In the end, Little sold half of his Gufo to Cainelli, who didn’t have to wait long to discover his horse was talented. He has received glowing reports from Rey Hernandez, who broke Gufo at TK Stables near Lexington, and from the late Kenneth LeJeune, who helped care for the horse during the winter at his training center. near Ocala, Fla.
Cainelli recalls: “Kenneth told me that Gufo was the best horse he had that year and probably the best in decades. “Miguel Clement went to him and agreed.” Miguel Clement is the son and assistant of Christophe Clement.
Gufo earned his first career win for the second time in December of his junior year. By the second start with 3, he was the black bet winner and followed by his first graded bet win. In his next 16 races, Gufo finished only three times and won 1st place with a score of 3, 4 and 5. He won the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) with a score of 3 and won the Sword Dancer Staking (G1T) twice in 2021-22. Out of 21 starts, he set a 9-4-5 record and made $2,176,530.
Gufo Wins 2020 Belmont Derby Invitation Bet at Belmont Park
“I was hoping we could have another year but he really has nothing to prove,” Cainelli said. Given his considerable luck with Gufo to date, he added that it did not extend to seizing opportunities in the stallion business.
“I’m not much of a horse rider, so the best thing is people who know what they’re doing take care of it,” he said.
Clemente said he believes being the son of the Declaration of War would make Gufo an attractive prospect.
“Declaration of War did a great job after he was sent to Japan, so he should be given considerable attention,” he said. “We were very lucky with Declare War. We had a 1st grade winner Decorated Invaders and most recently there Great Invasion a very nice horse.”
Big Invasion is a six-time stake winner who won Quick Call Stakes (G3T) last year and most recently won Silks Run Stakes on March 18 at Gulfstream Park.
“One of his biggest strengths is that he has won 1s three years in a row,” Clement said. “How many horses can claim that?”
