Millions of gamers on Steam and beyond gather to mourn famously untalented horse who inspired the beloved anime girl in Umamusume, Haru Urara: "May she get all the grass and carrots in heaven"

The quietly passionate, thoroughbred racehorse Haru Urara has died at 29 years old on September 9. She leaves behind a humble legacy defined by the 113 consecutive losses that made her famous in her native Japan around the time of her retirement in 2004, and something like a daughter – a pink-haired anime character with the same name in gacha game Umamusume: Pretty Derby.

"It is with heavy hearts that we share that Haru Urara passed away on September 9," developer Cygames announced in a Twitter post after Japanese news site Friday Digital reported Haru Urara had become suddenly afflicted with a deadly case of tummy gas build-up, or colic. "We share our condolences to all the staff involved in Haru Urara's care."

While Haru Urara's famous losing streak earned her a reputation for being tenacious – a quality that Umamusume fans value in the game's spirited character, with her strawberry milkshake hair – many of her 29 years were spent uncomfortably.

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"Racehorses are destroyed when they don't win," her former trainer Dai Muneishi told The Scotsman in 2004. "But to my way of thinking, a horse is also a living being, and it's inexcusable to destroy it at the mere whim of humans."

She continued to race despite what Muneishi once described as her skittish nature, with a tendency to shy from small sounds and react violently to grooming, given a pink Hello Kitty blinker mask and turned into merchandise.

It's a sad history to remember, but some Umamusume fans seek to preserve even this shady part of Haru Urara's story. Through her anime successor – who is, and deserves to be, happy – they've learned to love her.

"May she get all the grass and carrots in heaven," wishes one popular comment on Reddit.

"This – to be perfectly honest – absurd idea for a game allowed us to learn about the lives of racehorses, jockeys, and trainers, and made us care," observes another. "Even those of us who have never before considered that sport or those who participate in it, it made us care."

Pleasantly for Haru Urara, this charitable mood defined the most recent chunk of her existence. After she was abandoned at Matha Farm in Onjuku a little over 10 years ago, she could finally unwind.

Umamusume recently donated thousands of kilograms of cold ryegrass to the farm for Haru Urara to chew on, though her colic ultimately would have meant she lost the ability to digest this fragrant sign of goodwill. Ultimately, she died at Matha Farm surrounded by caretakers.

One of them writes on Twitter (translated by DeepL) that it looked like "as if she were asleep." They bought her bouquets of pink lilies and roses.

Horse girl gacha gamers are so obsessed with pink racer Haru Urara that the farm that owns the real-life horse she's based on, who never won a single race, had to respond.