Horse racing is a popular (betting) sport in Japan. In a new game on Steam, players become the trainers of such racehorses. However, the horses do not look like horses, but like cute anime girls.
What kind of game is this? The game in question is Umamusume: Pretty Derby by developer Cygames. It has been playable on Steam since June 25, 2025, and is also available for iOS and Android devices. As a player, you choose one of 42 different Umamusume
, which translates to horse daughters.
The chosen Umamusume is trained to improve her stats so that she wins her races against 17 other horse(girls). The training is randomized every day and focuses on aspects such as speed, power, endurance, and tactics.
The higher the stats, the better the chances of winning. After each victory, the horse girl gives a musical idol performance. The launch trailer provides a first look at the game:
Cute horse girls, musical performances, and gacha
What is Umamusume? Umamusume: Pretty Derby belongs to the eponymous anime, manga, and game universe, based on popular horses from Japanese horse racing.
The anime consists of 13 episodes that aired in the spring season of 2018 via Crunchyroll. At the same time, a mobile game was supposed to be released but was postponed until 2021. In the meantime, there are several manga adaptations and multiple spin-off animes. Even a theater play titled Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Sprinter’s Story was performed.
Each character in Umamusume is based on a real racehorse and is named after them. Additionally, the appearance of the girls is inspired by the racehorses:
The character Special Week corresponds to the same-named horse that raced from 1997 to 1999. The game character takes on the brown coat and white blaze, as well as the white-purple uniform of the riding jockey. However, the gender of the animal is not adapted. Special Week and many other racehorses are or were male but are still depicted as anime girls.
The characters of Umamusume are not only visually but also characteristically based on their real-life counterparts. Haru Urara is depicted as a cheerful anime girl who loses every race yet maintains her cheerfulness. Her real-life counterpart is the eponymous racehorse, which continually competed in the early 2000s, never won, and was still celebrated by racing fans.
When winning, your horse girl performs an idol show with dance and singing.
The gacha mechanics in the game are there to draw the horse girls and then improve them with cards that are also drawn.
How are real races connected to Umamusume? On the one hand, Umamusume licenses the names of popular racehorses from their (former) owners for the games, series, and more.
On the other hand, there are collaborations with racetracks and associations. The National Association of Racing, for example, is associated with the Kasamatsu racetrack. Developer Cygames also sponsors races in the USA to promote the corresponding local version of Umamusume: Pretty Derby.
Moreover, the betting turnover surrounding the races has increased since the launch of Umamusume. In 2019, it was still at 2.881 trillion yen (approximately 19.32 billion euros) with the Japan Racing Association, and by 2023, it had risen to 3.275 trillion yen (approximately 17 billion euros). By the way, anyone generally interested in animes – even those unrelated to horse racing – might look forward to a new announcement from Anime Expo: “Did not expect an anime, but I am glad it’s coming” – The author of Full Metal Alchemist surprises fans with a new series
