'The shining star of losers everywhere' who inspired one of Umamusume's most popular horse girls has passed away

It's a sad day for horse girl enjoyers everywhere. Japaneses racehorse Haru Urara—dubbed "the shining star of losers everywhere" and whose personality and storyline was transformed into an anime horse waifu in Umamusume: Pretty Derby—has passed away at the age of 29.

The news was broken by Japanese outlet Friday Digital, with a representative for Matha Farm confirming that the mare had passed due to colic, a pretty common cause of death in horses. Her age was the equivalent of almost 90 in human years, and on the upper end of a horse's average lifespan.

Haru Urara was born in 1996, making her debut race two years later before retiring in 2004. She became a pretty big deal in Japan—not for her excellent performance, but rather lack thereof. Her career spanned 113 races, of which she lost every single one, earning her "the shining star of losers everywhere" title. That's precisely what made her so endearing to the masses, though, with folks intentionally placing bets on her to use the slips as good luck charms.

Her popularity essentially led to the financial rescuing of the Kochi Racetrack shortly before her retirement too, when 13,000 spectators flocked to place over 121 million yen in bets. Sure, she was a massive loser, but she was our loser.

Haru Urara's stardom would achieve worldwide status recently thanks to the global release of gacha game Umamusume: Pretty Derby, where she appears as an adorable pink-haired anime girl. The game regularly makes tongue-in-cheek references to Haru Urara's penchant for losing, as well as her numerous fans acknowledging her poor track record but loving her regardless. Her career even includes a race that is borderline impossible to win. Unless you're an absolute glutton for punishment, of course.

She was so popular, in fact, that a website allowing people to gift fancy $40 grass to retired racehorses became overwhelmed with donations, temporarily breaking the website and leaving Haru Urara with more grass than she could handle. A real suffering from success situation.

Matha Farm has yet to make an official statement, but the Umamusume X account posted the following: "It is with heavy hearts that we share that Haru Urara passed away on September 9. The legendary racehorse's legacy serves as the inspiration for the character of the same name in Umamusume: Pretty Derby. We share our condolences to all the staff involved in Haru Urara's care."

I am only slightly devastated about this news (read: incredibly). Haru Urara is the second Uma to pass away recently, with Grass Wonder galloping off this mortal coil almost an exact month earlier on August 8. It's bound to happen though, and the ratio of alive-to-dead horses in Umamusume has always teetered more to the latter end. Doesn't make it hurt any less, of course. I hope Haru Urara is getting to run free and chow down on all that $40 ryegrass in the sky.