A $40 treat for a beloved Umamusume horse spirals into thousands of kilograms of grass... and one very overwhelmed donation site.
A flood of donations to one retired racehorse has briefly taken down a Japanese website, all thanks to Umamusume: Pretty Derby. Haru Urara, the famously winless mare who features as a character in the horse girl gacha game, has received more than 2,500 kilograms of premium ryegrass from fans, and the sheer volume briefly crashed the site handling the contributions.
Over 2,500 kilograms of grass donations overwhelms Namabokuso Bank
The ryegrass, sold via the Namabokuso Bank, costs around US$40 per 5kg bundle, and is intended to feed retired racehorses across Japan. Haru Urara was listed as one of the recipients, and after a popular Japanese fan account highlighted the donation link, support surged. Fans from around the world flocked to buy her grass, overloading the site and briefly taking it offline.
It’s a surreal show of affection for a mare best-known for never winning a single race. Haru Urara ran 113 times in her career without a single victory, earning her the nickname “the shining star of losers everywhere.” That underdog status, now immortalised through her Umamusume counterpart, has made her a beloved figure well beyond Japan.
In total, fans donated over 2,500 kilograms of ryegrass—an amount that briefly overwhelmed the donation platform. The site has since recovered, but the effects remain visible: Haru Urara alone has received an estimated US$20,000 worth of grass, roughly the weight of a compact car or an entire marching band’s brass section.
Even her caretakers were caught off guard by the scale of the response. Haru Urara’s farm acknowledged the unexpected wave of attention, while fans took to social media to celebrate, sharing memes and fan art of her Umamusume version buried in virtual bales of ryegrass.
Since its global release, Cygames’ Umamusume: Pretty Derby has quietly become one of 2025’s surprise gacha hits. The premise is odd even by anime standards: real-life Japanese racehorses reimagined as idolised anime girls who sing, race, and occasionally weep on stage. But what started as a niche title has trotted far beyond its home turf, picking up a steady pace of global players, and with it, a wave of affection for the actual horses behind the characters.
That includes Haru Urara, whose in-game counterpart has quickly become a fan favourite. Despite a career defined by constant losses, her story of perseverance struck a chord. Two decades on, it has resurfaced once more, this time in the form of digital tributes, unexpected donations, and more ryegrass than anyone could have predicted.