Gufo going on to Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, while Big Invasion will get a break

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Back from stakes tries at Kentucky Downs, the Christophe Clement-trained pair of Gufo and Big Invasion will have different plans for the remainder of 2022.

Gufo, beaten a nose by Red Knight in the $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup, will be pointed to the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct on Oct. 8. Big Invasion, who had a six-race winning streak snapped when he finished third in the Franklin-Simpson, will be put away from the remainder of the year and point to a 4-year-old campaign in 2023, Clement said.

Gufo ran in the Kentucky Turf Cup just two weeks after he won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga for the second straight year.

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“He ran very well, even in defeat,” Clement said. “It would have been a wonderful thing to win those races two weeks apart, but that’s the way it is. He came back in good shape. He’s at Belmont training great. He will be trained for the Turf Classic, most probably.”

Clement is also pointing Soldier Rising, second to Gufo in the Sword Dancer, to the Joe Hirsch.

Meanwhile, Clement said Big Invasion did not come out of his third-place finish “as good as he should have,” and the horse will be given off the rest of the year.

Prior to his third in the Franklin-Simpson, Big Invasion had won six consecutive races, including five stakes. At Saratoga, he won the Grade 3 Quick Call and the Mahony. His other stakes wins were the Texas Glitter at Gulfstream, the William Walker at Churchill Downs, and the Paradise Creek at Belmont Park.