Haru Urara, the Racehorse Who Inspired Uma Musume Character, Passes Away at 29

Haru Urara, the racehorse who became a national sensation in Japan and later inspired a character in the game and anime franchise Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, has passed away at the age of 29 (equivalent to 90 years old in human age).
The mare died in the early hours of September 9 at Martha Farm in Chiba Prefecture, where she had spent her retirement years. According to farm director Yuko Miyahara, Haru Urara showed signs of illness the previous morning.

“On the morning of September 8th, she hadn’t defecated, so I thought something was wrong and called the vet to treat her. We stayed with her through the night, but at dawn her condition suddenly worsened, and she passed away just like that. I’m truly devastated,” Miyahara said.

The cause of death was colic, a dangerous condition in horses that occurs when food fails to digest properly, leading to gas buildup and intestinal problems. Colic is both common and highly fatal among horses. Derby winner Winning Ticket, who also inspired an Uma Musume: Pretty Derby character, has suffered the same illness.
Despite never winning a single race, Haru Urara captured the nation’s heart with her perseverance, running 113 consecutive races without a victory since her debut in 1998. It was this very losing streak that transformed her into a beloved national idol, not only in Japan but also overseas, where fans recently donated more than 2,500 kilograms of grass to support the mare.

Just last month, another real-life racehorse, Grass Wonder, who also inspired a character in the Uma Musume: Pretty Derby game and anime, passed away on August 8 at the age of 30.

The Umamusume: Pretty Derby game launched for iOS and Android on February 24, 2021, and for PC on March 10, 2021. Besides the TV anime and the Umayon short-form anime, the franchise also has a web anime project, which ran for 4 episodes in October 2022 titled Umamusume Pretty Derby: Road to the Top. The 3rd TV anime season finished airing in 2023. Crunchyroll streams the main anime for the multimedia franchise, and they describe the story:

This is a tale of a world where “horse girls”; with glorious names and incredible running abilities live alongside humanity. Horse girl Special Week has moved from the country to the city to attend Tracen Academy. There, she and her classmates compete to win the Twinkle Series and earn the title of “The County’s #1 Horse Girl.”

Uma Musume Pretty Derby