Gufo

Gufo, a Declaration of War colt owned by Otter Bend Stables and trained by Christophe Clement, finished third in his career debut in November 2019 and won his second start by a nose in late December at Gulfstream Park. He remained at Gulfstream through the winter meet and into the spring, racking up two more victories to begin his 3-year-old campaign, the last of those coming in the listed English Channel Stakes on May 2. From there he went to Delaware Park for this next start to try the July 4 Grade 3 Kent Stakes, where he was sent off as the 3-5 favorite. Gufo got off to a poor start under Trevor McCarthy but recovered to stalk the pace before powering through the stretch en route to a half-length victory, his fourth in a row. 

Gufo ran second by a head Aug. 15 in the Saratoga Derby Invitational. He regained his winning form Oct. 5 in the Grade 1, $250,000 Belmont Derby Invitational as he rallied from sixth to prevail by a length and punch his expenses-paid ticket to the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf via the "Win and You're In" Challenge Series.

Gufo made his 4-year-old debut in the Grade 1 Man o'War Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8, 2021. After rating well off the pace, he closed valiantly in the stretch, but lost a close photo finish to Channel Cat. After a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes at Belmont on June 5, he bounced back with a one-length score in the Grand Couturier Stakes on July 5.

Gufo earned another Grade 1 win on Aug. 28 at Saratoga, when he won the Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer Stakes under Joel Rosario. For that win, Gufo earned a spot in the starting gate for the Grade 1 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6. The Sword Dancer turned out to be Gufo’s last win of 2021, as he subsequently finished third as the favorite in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes at Belmont Park and then a disappointing 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Gufo came back impressively for his 5-year-old bow, rallying through the stretch to win the Grade 2 Pan American Stakes Presented by Rood & Riddle at Gulfstream Park by two lengths on April 2, after which he endured a string of losses at the top levels of competition. In his next 2022 start, Gufo rallied late but came up a length short to frontrunning longshot winner Highland Chief in the Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes May 14 at Belmont Park. Following that, he was once again compromised by a slow pace and a runaway leader and could do no better than a late-closing third in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes June 11, also at Belmont. That loss was followed by a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park on July 23.

Despite three straight Grade 1 losses, Gufo returned to Grade 1 competition in his next start on Aug. 27 seeking a repeat win in the $750,000, Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer at Saratoga. Facing an accomplished 10-horse field of turf runners, including many who had defeated him in his recent races, Gufo returned to the winner's circle in textbook fashion using his patented late kick to rally past the field under regular rider Joel Rosario. The victory was the third Grade 1 victory in Gufo's career and marked the third consecutive year that Gufo has punched his ticket to the Breeders' Cup with a "Win and You're In" victory. Gufo completed the 1 1/2 miles in a time of 2:28.92 and paid $10.80 to win. He followed with a runner-up finish to Red Knight in the $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes at Kentucky Downs.

Gufo is out of the Petionville mare Floy and is a half-brother (same dam [mother], different sire [father]) to millionaire turf sprinter Hogy.