Grass Wonder, the real life horse that the Umamusume: Pretty Derby game/anime character is based on, passed away on August 8 at the age of 30. It was confirmed on the official X (formerly Twitter) account for Umamusume: Pretty Derby.
Grass Wonder was born on February 18, 1995, and was an American-bred, Japanese-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. His career lasted from 1997 to 2000, during which he won nine of fifteen starts, including four Grade 1 titles.
Unbeaten as a two-year-old in 1997, Grass Wonder’s season culminated with victory in the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes. Injury kept him sidelined for much of his second season, but he returned in autumn to win the Arima Kinen.
At the age of four, he had his best performances, winning both the Takarazuka Kinen and a second Arima Kinen. After failing to win any races in three starts in his final season in 2000, Grass Wonder was retired to stud.
Rena Maeda, the Japanese voice actress who voices the character in Umamusume, has posted photos of the legendary racehorse just a day before he died. She retweeted a post from 2018 in English, explaining that the photo was taken in 2018 when she went to see Grass Wonder in person.
“He was eating lots of grass in the magnificent nature of Hokkaido. Among them, dandelions seemed to be his favorite, and they were already all eaten and gone in Glass Wonder’s room. Grass Wonder has lived a long life and I will definitely go back to see him again.”
She made another post today, with the following caption:
The great and magnificent racehorse, Grass Wonder, beloved by so many.
My encounter with him has brought such vibrant color to the path of my life.
Thank you so much for living a long life.
Thank you so much for leaving behind such a wonderful bloodline.
I will continue to follow your image from here on.
Please, always and forever, spend your days peacefully in a beautiful place.
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.”
The Umamusume: Cinderella Gray spin-off anime is currently ongoing, with Cour 2 set to begin in October.
Source: Umamusume: Pretty Derby Official X, Rena Maeda Official X
© Cygames, Inc
Participate In Discussions