As a gray horse, he was born a chestnut before turning gray. In his racing prime, he was a dapple gray with a wide blaze marking with a distinctive forking snip, a stocking on his right back leg and a coronet on his left back leg. With age, he now has an almost fully white coat, with only the markings being whiter. He commonly ran with a black hood emblazoned with his name, usually without the ear covers, wearing blinkers and a shadow roll.
Gold Ship became infamous for its unpredictable temperament and wildly inconsistent performances, as well as being popular after retirement for being somewhat of a goof. Nevertheless, it had a greatly successful career, with over ¥1b in total earnings.
As a stallion, he had tremendous success in actually breeding and conceiving children, and as a sire, he at least had several graded winners, their main weakness being how many of them inherited his temperament and moodiness.
