Benefits/downsides - to geld or not to geld

[Don Corleone]

There are many and varied reasons for gelding a colt other the obvious ones and ones mentioned above. I train on a public track where each trainer has a paddock or two in the centre of the track and obviously colts aren't allowed out there. We used to have colt yards near the track but the city council didn't renew the lease therefore if we train a colt it basically has to be boxed.
I have never had a real problem with any colts that I have trained. I have transported them with fillies to the races and never had a problem.
Mostly all my colts were gelded on the wishes of the owners. It did make training at the track easier.

[Greg Hando]

The worst with keeping colt's is where to spell them. Far to many people keep colt's away from fillies and mares in an effort to stop them becoming bully fired, i have found that if you box them or in a yard next to fillies the less bully they are they soon get sick of squealing . Also what are you going to do with them after racing ? Their is only 1 answer unless they are an exceptional racehorse and even then you will only get a few mares to them most of the time. My opinion is that the only good colt is a gelding it is probably the only way that the horse may have after racing to prolong his life and be rehomed for a saddle horse or for the cart.