would you race this horse again?

[Discovery]

http://www.pedigreequery.com/the+purple+ghost

I bought him in September of last year, he had a small splint so I rested him....then he cut his leg pretty bad so I rested him some more. I've ridden him a few times and popped over a couple of jumps (seems to be a good jumper prospect) However, recently I've been thinking of racing him again. He only had 10 starts and was never placed but something is telling me that he just needs another chance. The guy who's racehorses I exercise really liked his breeding and said his times were fairly fast. What would you do? (knowing that he could possibly be a good jumper too.)
name: The Purple Ghost
tattoo: E11835
Age: 5
Height: 16.2 or more (big, handsome dark grey)

[Discovery]

sorry, must have been a stupid question.

[austique]

My concern would be the size and location of the splint and I think at his age and being a maiden running him is a very risky proposal just from a financial standpoint. I've seen a lot of horses that could work well in the morning and not put it together in the afternoon no matter how many chances they got. I'm not necessarily against running a five year old maiden, but my experience has been that once they hit that age their prospects are dodgy at best even if they had some talent when they were younger.

I would pass. You say he's big and pretty make him a show horse and love him to death.

[ragsdaj]

10-0-0-0 was a pretty good chance for your gelding. Unless something has changed dramatically from a maturity standpoint etc. make a nice jumper out of him.

[Tairaterces]

sorry, must have been a stupid question.

Here's another side to running maidens:

Wait worth it for Gunslick, Van Berg

It took until March of his 6-year-old year to finally make it to the races, but Gunslick made up for lost time by winning his debut at that advanced age last weekend. And he did it stylishly, rallying boldly after a slow start to win by 4 1/2 lengths in sharp time against maiden claimers. He paid $37.40.

"I just gave him plenty of time to develop," his trainer, Jack Van Berg, deadpanned. Van Berg bought Gunslick, a son of Wild Rush, as a 2-year-old in training for $27,000.

"After I bought him, he bowed a tendon," Van Berg said. "I brought him back a couple of times, because he had so much talent, but I couldn't get him back. I was going to keep him as a saddle horse."

Van Berg said he gave it one last go-around after Dr. Herb Warren performed a tendon-splitting procedure on Gunslick's left front leg. This time, Gunslick made it to the races.

"He had so much talent," Van Berg said. "Other than the tendon, he hasn't had a pimple on him. He's such a nice horse, so smart. We gelded him when he was 2. He was an ornery little devil. Not mean, just full of himself."
Courtesy of DRF

With that said you do what you think is best . . . racing or jumping . . he's your baby.
Tairaterces

[austique]

Yeah...but that horse has never started and this guy's had 10 starts without showing much. I would lean toward the hunter ring.

[summerhorse]

Yeah I think he has shown that he is not going to be an exceptional racehorse unless you can find someone who was there and can offer a good excuse for every race. Sounds like he'd rather be a jumper. Of course you CAN race him, it just sounds like money down the drain when he could be learning how to be a much nicer (and maybe more valuable) hunter/jumper.

[SmkScrn]

If you want a race horse Go out and claim a horse. By the time your horse is ready to run it will likely cost more than claiming a race fit horse that you could race in a few weeks.

[ak1]

Unless, of course you are thinking of training him to be a steeplechaser...they typically race at 5 yrs plus in order to have a fully mature body.