“I’m gonna go for it and do my best to get first place! Thank you for your support!”
―Haru Urara
Haru Urara (ハルウララ, Haru Urara) is a supporting character in Uma Musume: Pretty Derby.
She is a friend of Special Week and many other horse girls. She travels around often to compete in races. Although she never returned with a single victory; she returned with souvenirs for her friends.
This energetic horse girl has an unending optimism and fighting spirit despite never having won a single race. It’s pretty clear that her enrollment to Tracen Academy was an error, given that she doesn’t quite have the talent or skill. Regardless, she still brightens up the everyday life in the academy.
Appearance[]
She is a short and cute horse girl. She has bright pink hair and eyes. Her hair is tied up in a small ponytail and her bangs are kept neatly with a dark pink headband. She wears two dark pink ear caps and a white and pink bow on her left ear.
Condition: Being at the top of homestretch at maiden race or team race
References: 2004 YS Derby Jockey Special or others
Notes[]
This commentary is not based on particular one.
It is also based on a manga Haru Urara Ganbaru!
Trivia[]
Her racing outfit is based on ordinary sportwear.
In Kochi racecourse there are up to Jpn3 races, so it wasn't possible for her to be put into G1 races.
In Japanese local horseracing, racing silks depend on the horse's jockey, not owner. Many jockeys rode on Haru Urara, so she doesn't have a fixed racing silk unlike other The colour scheme of her outfit actually comes from the mask that she wore, which was pink and white. The owners also took their time to iron Hello Kitty patches onto it.
King Halo is her roommate. Their connection to each other is that they never succumb to giving up no matter what.
Haru Urara on r/place alongside surprising allies, Detroit Lions
In April 2022, International Uma Musume fans managed to put the horse girl version of Haru Urara on the second edition of r/place - Reddit's April Fools canvas, edited by people one pixel at a time. She appeared in the second day on norther part of the canvas and survived till the end.
In 2022, Kochi racecourse held a talk show, "The Trail of Miracle in Kochi Racecourse". It was going to invite Yukina Shuto, Haru Urara's voice actor[1]. However, she was infected by novel coronavirus, so Tomoyo Takayanagi, Oguri Cap's voice actor appeared instead[2].
Real Life[]
“It is hard to raise a horse, though, This tiny bay mare had been involved by circumstances that humans made, and had lived a stormy life. Please help her to live a peaceful life.”
―Yuko Miyahara, the chairman of Haru Urara Fund[3]
Haru Urara[4] is a racehorse in 1998-2004. She ran 113 times only in Kochi racecourse and never won. Nevertheless, she made tons of fans and a big amount of income in Kochi racecourse on the edge of abolition. "Haru Urara Boom" temporarily saved Kochi.
Before Boom[]
Haru Urara was unsold at the auction, so the breeder Nobuta Farm was to own her. They entrust a trainer Dai Muneishi in Kochi with her, because Kochi was the chepest in Japan to entrust a horse, and it was only course that Urara could win.
However, she hated training, or even put saddle. Muneishi trained her one by one, and debuted on the racecourse.
At the maiden race she lost in 5th of 5 horses. She kept losing race after race. When her defeat became 87 in a row, an announcer Koji Hashiguchi found it.
Hashiguchi introduced her continuative defeat to national media. At first, it was nothing but an additional to Ibuki Rise Up's continuative victory.
During the Boom[]
Haru Urara's news unexpectedly spread all over Japan and lots of fans cheered her up. They would pack into Kochi just to see Haru Urara.
Jockey wives would make T-shirts and merchandise of her. Fans would buy betting tickets on her as protective charms against car crashes because betting on Haru Urara is a guaranteed loss (当たらない means to not win but also to not crash.).
Meanwhile, those boom bothered her breeder and first owner Nobuta Farm. Not only he couldn't earn rewards, but Haru Urara's siblings were unsalable because of her "fame".
“To tell the truth, I don't want to see Urara's face. I've longed for her to win, but I gave up. These successive defeats aren't honors for breeder or owner.”
In 2004, one of the top jockeys in JRA Yutaka Take came to Kochi to ride on Nobo True, that entered the Kurofune Sho (Jpn3). Take was asked to ride on Haru Urara, and it came true. Over 500 million yen of her betting tickets were sold. It was the record of Kochi Racecourse ever.
Kochi Racecourse would be closed if next time it made a deficit, though, thanks to her it was avoided temporarily. Those sales are pooled for making up for the deficit. Racecourse saved money and made effort to improve financially. Now, Kochi's sales became one of the top of local racecourses, and In 2021 Kurofune Sho day, the sales surpassed the day Yutaka Take rode on Urara.
After retirement[]
Conflicts occured between the third owner and stable, and she made retired. After that, she transferred to Matha Farm in Chiba, and eventually her owner abandoned her ownership. Matha Farm and volunteers founded Haru Urara supporting assosiation, and she now resides peacefully in Chiba.
Horseracings in Japan are divided into two types. One is the central horseracing, held by JRA, the others are local horseracings, held by prefectures or cities. Kochi horseracing is latter. Haru Urara is only horse in Uma Musume that never have belonged to JRA[Note 1]. She had belonged to Kochi for all her racing life.
Her father Nippo Teio is a model of Akitsu Teio in Cinderella Gray.
In 2016, a documentary movie ”The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere"[6] was released.
In 2018, Haru Urara was featured on posters enlightening traffic safety, and received a letter of thanks and 600kg of carrots by Kisarazu Police Station.
“I'm Haru Urara. Everyone, great to see you again. Now I'm in Chiba, where I'm conforted to live. Lifetime results: 113 runs, 0 wins. I couldn't be "hit" for my life, and I need a favor of you. Don't be hit by cars for your lives.”
In 2019, Urara joined an equine race Soft Keiba, and she "won". Fans and media say this is her "first" victory[8].
In 2021, Kochi horseracing held "Thank you, Uma Musume Special[Note 2]" race. At the race, Hashiguchi announcer said "Trainers, thank you for loving Haru Urara."
