Tamamo Cross

"I haven't lost ta' poverty yet! That's 'cause I'm Naniwa's White Lightning!"

- Tamamo Cross

Personality
There are two instantly recognisable things about Tamamo Cross at first glance: she's really short and she speaks in a very thick Kansai-ben accent. But despite her small stature she is the very meaning of energy and takes every opportunity to make a sharp quip, no matter in her daily life and races. She grew up in a very financially challenged household but her power comes from a hungry spirit that keeps her motivated to not let that get the best of her.

As an Osakan, she loves manzai comedy and is usually the tsukkomi, with Oguri Cap as a great boke character.

Songs

 * My Against Fight (Solo song)
 * Yumezora
 * Make Debut!
 * Hashire Uma Musume
 * NEXT FRONTIER
 * BLOW my GALE
 * We are DREAMERS!!
 * GIRLS' LEGEND U
 * Umapyoi Densetsu

Special Commentary

 * Requirement: Winning senior Spring and Autumn Tenno Sho
 * Reference: 1988 Tenno Sho Autumn, by Masayuki Sakai (Fuji TV)

Trivia

 * She speaks Kansai dialect. Despite about two thirds of horse girls belong to Kansai in real life, other horse girls speak in Kanto dialect.
 * Even Special Week, who speaks Hokkaido Dialect, belongs to Kansai.
 * Tamamo Cross is rumored as a model of Midori Makiba O. It is reflected in Uma Musume episodes.
 * In game version, she mimics Makiba O's speaking.
 * Cinderella Gray Tamamo Cross collaborated with Midori Makiba O on Young Jump illustration. Each author drew their own characters.

Real Life
"In 1988, Tenno Sho Autumn. 'Gray horses aren't strong.' People had said until these two horses appeared. The showdown by a gray and a gray. A rival gives strength. Wind or light, that horse's name is― Tamamo Cross."

- 2012 Tenno Sho Autumn TV commercial, by JRA

Tamamo Cross is a racehorse in the end of Showa. He broke a superstition that gray horses were not strong, winning three G1s in a row, including victories of both Tenno Sho. He fought several times with Oguri Cap as Gray Showdown, and excited the second horseracing boom in Japan.


 * His nickname "White Lightening II" came from his father C.B. Cross.
 * Though he is often compared with Oguri Cap, a member of Heisei Top Three, Tamamo Cross himself is not counted as the member. He retired by the end of 1988, before Heisei era started.
 * It is said that he is one of models of fictional racehorse Midori Makiba O, appearing in a manga Midori no Makiba O.
 * His owner belongs to Hanshin owners' association. Perhaps it is why horse girl Tamamo Cross speaks Kansai Dialect.
 * Nishikino Farm, which produced him, had lots of debt when he was born. Later Tamamo Cross earned enough rewards, though, the farm was bankrupted before that.
 * He didn't succeed as a studhorse. But his great-grandson Naran Huleg won 2022 Takamatsunomiya Kinen. This was the first G1 win in his descendants.