I’m gonna do things differently this time. While the in-game version of Urara is still based on a real horse, as we’ll see, adapting the real horse’s tale was… not possible within the confines of the game.
Haru Urara was born in 1996, still alive as of this writing and is 27 years old (and may she live many more). She is descended from Nippo Teio (A Tamamo Cross contemporary) and funnily enough a mare called Heroine.
Important to note that Nippo Teio has no relation to Toukai Teio, Teio (帝王) just means “Emperor”.
Urara was put up for auction and couldn’t find a buyer anywhere, so she was eventually entrusted to Dai Muneishi, an ex-jockey and trainer, who said that he took the task mainly from his loyalty to Nobuyoshi Nobuta, the manager of Shinoda Ranch.
And it was indeed one hell of a task. Urara was a really hard horse to deal with, one that refused to train, rolled over when trying to put the saddle on her and who hated having a saddle put on. Eventually some improvements were made and she was handed to stablehand Kensuke Fujiwara, who Urara got almost exclusively attached to.
Though even after this, things didn’t get any easier. Urara got bored really fast when training, apparently she would do two laps no problem but then refuse to do a third one. And even when racing things didn’t get any easier, according to Fumitaka Furukawa, Urara’s first Jockey, it was like “driving while both steering wheel and brakes refused to work properly”.
Despite all this, a racehorse is there to race and race Urara did.
A lot.
No like, I need you to understand the insane amount of races Urara ran. She ran a total of 113 races in her career.
AND LOST EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.
But let’s break down the timeline of events, and also understand in the process why Urara got famous at all despite only losing.
In her debut year of 1998 she only ran 3 races. They were all basically local debut races.
Then in 1999 this trend continued. While TM Opera O and many others were gathering a storm worthy of the follow-up to the Golden Generation, Haru Urara ran 14 similar races (but this time for 4 year old horses instead of 3 year olds), followed by 6 other local races.
In the year 2000 she ran 18 more races, in 2001 she ran 19 more, in 2002 she ran another 18.
And then 2003 happened.
Koji Hashiguchi, the commentator of the Kochi racecourse noticed the extent of Urara’s losing streak and went to the Kochi Shinbun to sell the story of “Japan’s Zippy Chippy” (an American horse with a similar fame for losing a lot). But the story had more potential and it moved from the local Kochi Shinbun to the national Mainichi Shinbun, and from thereon the story of this “loser horse that keeps racing regardless” went as viral as something can get in 2003.
In fact, to illustrate the sheer traction Urara was getting, her 15th race of September 7th 2003 was called “Go for it!!! Haru Urara”, which was followed by her 16th race: “Support Haru Urara”. The 20th race was named “Urara’s Book January 4th” (and you’ll never guess what it promoted) and the next one after that was her 100th race so it was called “Haru Urara’s 100th Battle Record”.
That race was the first time in about 4 years that the Kochi Racecourse saw over 5000 people coming in, and bets in favor of Urara topped 301 million yen.
Why would people bet in favor of Urara? BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE SEEING URARA’S BETTING TICKETS AS GOOD LUCK CHARMS.
Then on 2004, Yutaka Take (a famous jockey name I’ve mentioned a lot in this blog) decided to ride Urara in a race to support the small racecourse. The result was that the Kochi racecourse had to limit entrance FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY.
OH ALSO THEY OPENED A WINDOW SPECIFICALLY FOR THE PURCHASE OF URARA BETTING TICKETS.
THE WAITING TIME IN LINE WAS ABOUT 7 HOURS.
This was baffling for more than one party. Yutaka Take himself commented that he felt annoyed that the winner horses weren’t getting as much attention but couldn’t deny the ENERGY that the Urara Boom brought.
Others like the stable owners were concerned because if a horse is only known for losing then breeding them would be a fool’s errand.
But why did this happen? What caused such strong feelings all around the country to the point even the tickets were treated as relics?
To understand that, it’s important to understand the time frame that Urara ran in.
After the economic bubble burst around 1992, things got really ugly in the labor marketplace, resulting in what was called the “Employment Ice Age”. And the young adults entering society at this time were often called the “Lost Generation”.
If any of you have seen Kaiji, that’s the backdrop of that series, that’s the reason why people would bet with their own blood to get any money.
But there’s more to that.
It’s not just “any money”. Imagine that you grow up during an economic boom where the country seemed on top of the world and then when you finally enter society proper it all crashes and that future is denied to you.
In Kaiji, that’s the underlying element, where it’s not just having enough money to live but having that future promised to you compeletely taken away and then swinging in front of you, taunting you.
Now imagine that you’ve been in this situation for 10 years, you’re now resignated to not have the bright future others had, and the new generation is being born into this world where they don’t even know that future was possible to begin with.
And then you hear about this horse that has been running for around 70+ times and has never won. In horse racing, where your legacy depends on winning anything at all. But this horse doesn’t see it that way, this horse is going out there, having a blast, 70 times, 80 times, she’s gonna keep running even if she loses, even if she’s cursed to never be the winner.
On top of that it wasn’t even a central course horse, it was a horse from Kochi! A local horse in the countryside!! Haru Urara wasn’t some famous horse in some rut where she kept losing despite being high profile like Stay Gold. She was toiling at her craft in a place that city folks wouldn’t even think about looking.
In fact, it’s not a stretch to say that Urara saved Kochi horseracing, who was on the edge of being closed altogether before the Urara Boom happened.
Yes! We have a “Save The Local Scene” story ON TOP OF ALL THAT.
But is Urara really that much of a loser? Thoroughbreds give up the resilience of regular horses for speed, and horse racing pushes them beyond their regular limits. Many of the biggest names in horse racing retire after 3 years with a record that averages between 15 and 20 races and by the end they have to give up racing lest something break.
Urara ran for twice the average career of other horses and ran for five times the amount of races, and retired without any major injuries beyond the odd hoof condition here and there.
She’s the Glass Joe of Uma Musume. You might laugh at Glass Joe having just 1 win and 99 losses, but on the other hand, what boxer manages to go beyond 20 fights without any major damage already done? Much less 100?
Is it any wonder then that people would relate to this “Shining Star of Losers Everywhere”? (That’s the name of a short documentary in English about her you should check by the way) Is it any wonder that people would see tickets betting in her favor as charms?
I’m not a superstitious person, but I will point out that after Urara retired in 2005, the Employment Ice Age thawed briefly in 2006.
Just saying.