Haru Urara

"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.

Personality
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.

Starting Gate 07

 * 今日もウララかケセラセラ! (Kyou Mo Urara Ka Que Sera Sera!)
 * Present March
 * Umapyoi Densetsu

Trivia

 * Her racing outfit is based on ordinary sportwear.
 * In Kochi racecourse there are up to Jpn3-grade 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.
 * Urara r-Place.png 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.

Real Life
Haru Urara 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 a course that Urara could win.

However, she hated training, or even put saddle. Muneishi trained her one by one, and made a debut 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 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.).

In 2004, one of the top jockeys in URA Yutaka Take came to Kochi to ride on Nobo True, that entered Kurofune Sho (Jpn3). Take was asked to ride on Haru Urara, and it came true. Her betting ticket sold over 500 million yen. Then 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, and 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 third owner and stable and she made retired. After that, she transferred to Masa Farm in Chiba, and eventually the owner abandoned her ownership. Masa Farm and volunteers founded Haru Urara supporting assosiation, and She now resides peacefully in Chiba.


 * Horseracing in Japan is divided into two types. One is the central horseracing, held by JRA, the other is local horseracing, held by a prefecture or a city. Kochi horseracing is latter. Haru Urara is only horse in Uma Musume that never have belonged to JRA . 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 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.
 * In 2019, Urara joined an equine race Soft Keiba, and she "won". Fans and media say this is her "first" victory.
 * In 2021, Kochi horseracing held "Thank you, Uma Musume Special " race. At the race, Hashiguchi announcer said "Trainers, thank you for loving Haru Urara."