4-time Grade 1 winner Gufo is retired at age 6 after setback

Gufo, winner of three Grade 1 races for trainer Christophe Clement and owner Stephen Cainelli, was retired at age 6.

Clement confirmed the turf horse's retirement, reported earlier by Thoroughbred Daily News.

"He just had a small training setback, and the choice was to give him 60 days off and bring him back to race in the summer or to retire him," Clement told Horse Racing Nation. "And Mr. Cainelli already last year was contemplating the idea of retiring him because he loves the horse. He raced fully for three years, had a full career. Mr. Cainelli only has one horse in training, which is Gufo, and he just thought that his well-being was more important and he decided to retire and he's going to try to find him a place as a standing prospect."

Clement said Gufo is "going to WinStar to the training division as a rehab in order to be shown and to be available for potential buyers."

Gufo's Grade 1 wins came in the 2020 Belmont Derby and the Sword Dancer in 2021 and last year. In all, he appeared in 15 graded stakes, with other wins coming in the Pan American (G2) last year and the Kent (G3) in 2020. His career record was 21: 9-4-5 with earnings of $2,176,530.

"He's been a wonderful horse," Clement said. "He was bred by Mr. Cainelli and John Little, and he was a great credit to John Little's breeding program. And he became better and better as he went on and raced.

"He was the only horse Mr. Cainelli owned, which is a great, great Cinderella. When you own one horse, and he's as good as Gufo, wins three Grade 1s and that much money, it's wonderful. That's amazing.

"But you know, I basically raced against the best fields, older. We never missed a beat," Clement said. "He raced against the best horses in the country as 3-year-old. And the same applies with the older horses in '22 and '21, against the older horses. He raced in every single Grade 1 that went in New York, and he was very competitive. He won some of them. He was probably the most consistent, competitive turf horse, colt in New York for the last three years."

Clement said he hopes to team up again with Cainelli, who races as Otter Bend Stables.

"I truly, truly cherish the relationship with Mr. Cainelli. It's up to me to try to find another one and do it again."