Long pasterns and barrel racing.

I know this question is asked alot, but I was still hoping to get some opinions on this horse. My gf has had this horse sense the day it was born, great mind, great everything except this pasterns. The horse is now 2.5 years old, and she just rode him yesterday for the first time and he was great. My gf's trainer said he will likely not hold up to barrel racing (thats what my gfs pasion is!), and said it would be best for her to sell him and move on to another horse. She is emotionally attached already, and I wanted to get a few more opinions before anything was decided.

I measured his connon bones and they are around 9 inches, and his pastern is 3.5 inches. The angle of his pastern is not as extreme as many of the horses I have seen when researching this on the internet. So please give me some opinions on this horse and if you think he will hold up. I am going to host some pictures and post them in a second!
Thanks alot for any information.

Have any pictures of the whole horse? What's up with the lumps and bumps, especially on the right front?

Horses with long pasterns are predisposed to tendon/ligament injury, and this risk is amplified in sports like barrel racing. It's definitely a risk. Why does this horse HAVE to be a barrel horse, though?

I know how she feels, but i'm sorry to say it would be risky to use this horse for barrel racing. Is there any possibility of keeping this horse around (maybe for warmup or pleasure?) and getting a horse with a better build for the event?

I am afraid she may have to decide which she loves more, barrel racing or the horse. Me, I always choose the horse, but then I just trail ride. I would rather change the discipline than sell one of my horses. But I know I get wayyy too attached and I know that other people see horses more as a sport/hobby, not as family members like I do.

I am not a conformation expert by any means, but even to someone that isn't, this horse obviously has long pasterns and is fine boned. Normally I don't pay much attention to pasterns(unless they are too upright), and my own mare (just a trail horse) has pasterns that slope more than I like, but wow, these ARE noticeably long even to someone who doesn't put too much emphasis on pastern length.

I personally think barrel racing is a hard sport on horse's legs anyway so it's something I would never compete in more than say, a fun day or puttzing around an arena with friends. But to each his own. I know a lot of people take it very seriously. To me, it's not worth ruining my horses legs. I always plan to keep them until they die of old age, and I want to be useful up until that point if possible.