Multiple Grade I Stakes Winner Gufo Retired

The three-time Grade I winner Gufo (Declaration of War-Floy, by Petionville) has been retired and will arrive at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky on Wednesday, where potential buyers will have the opportunity to examine him as a stallion prospect.

“Gufo had a minor training setback, and his owner, Stephen Cainelli, made the decision to retire him and find him a new career as a stallion,” said his trainer, Christophe Clement. “Gufo is leaving Payson Park on Tuesday, and he is on his way to WinStar, where he will be available by appointment to be seen by prospective buyers.”

The 6-year-old was bred in Kentucky by Cainelli and John Little. He raced over four seasons, and earned $2,176,530, with 21 starts, nine wins and seven black-type wins. His three Grade Is included the Belmont Derby at three, and the Sword Dancer at four and five. He also won the GIII Kent S. at Delaware at three, where he set a new course record for nine furlongs in 1:46.94, and the GII Pan American at Gulfstream as a 5-year-old. He broke his maiden at a mile and a sixteenth at two.

Gufo is a son of Declaration of War, a two-time Grade I-winning son of War Front who started his career at Coolmore Stud in Ireland, moved to Ashford in America, and who now stands in Japan at the JBBA Shizunai Stallion Station. Declaration of War's son Fire At Will entered stud at Sequel Stallions in New York this year.

“Declaration of War has been a very pleasant surprise as a stallion,” said Clement. “And Gufo was a top-class racehorse at three, four, and five. He raced in all the best races in New York, and never missed a beat. He's a very sound horse. He's a half-brother to a very good sprinter called Hogy (Offlee Wild), so even if he is himself a ten-furlong horse, there is plenty of speed in his family. For me, as a trainer, he was a pleasure to train. He was remarkably consistent over the years, and also I valued dearly the relationship he created between us and Mr. Cainelli, who is a wonderful man from Texas, a retired surgeon.”

Like Declaration of War, Hogy was a very durable racehorse, competing over nine seasons and winning 19 races and nine black-type events. He won on both turf and dirt, was a three-time Grade III winner, and set a course record at the Fair Grounds going about 5.5 furlongs in 1:01.56.