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After an expert horse racing grandpa found a whole new fandom, the frenzy around Umamusume: Pretty Derby's global PC release has hit a new high thanks to one player who took their would-be gacha funds and invested them in a real racehorse instead.
A few days ago, Reddit user Oxijinn announced that they had "bought a race horse," swiftly rocketing to the top of the Umamusume community and earning adorable fan art of their horse, Jax Belle. Oxijinn is co-sponsoring Jax, taking on a £6,000 annual fee to train and house her. "Several of us chip in financially," they explained in a Reddit reply.
"The way I 'own' it is that, yes I am considered the 'owner' of the horse, but I don't keep it nor do I train it," they explained elsewhere. "I pay for its upkeep in a stable/pasture where it grows up and simultaneously pay for a professional trainer to train it into a race horse fit to win. You could be a trainer and an owner presumably, but I'd rather leave training the real horses to the professionals whilst I just train virtual horse girls."
I have been checking the English Umamusume community with quite some regularity hoping that somebody, somewhere would one day do exactly this, so it goes without saying that I immediately reached out to talk about this horse.
Jax Belle Update! from r/UmaMusume
Oxijinn tells me they got into Umamusume after joking with friends about the "anime horse girl gacha game," only to find themselves "actually enjoying the game" and getting extremely invested since its PC release last month. Their favorite horse girls are Symboli Rudolf, Gold Ship, Haru Urara (a community darling), and Meijiro McQueen. Essentially adopting their own real horse "was simply due to luck," they say, as they "had a connection to a horse breeder/owner" and could skip the initial purchase price as a result.
Jax Belle's non-racing name is Bluebell, and as an owner Oxijinn is free to visit to see her up close. They saw her at her first race earlier this month – which she lost after getting kicked by another horse, an injury she's apparently recovering well from – and plan to visit her at her home stable soon.
Naturally, I asked if Jax Belle's temperament reminds Oxijinn of any specific Umamusume horse girls. "So far Jax Belle mostly reminds me of Gold Ship if anyone," they explained. Gold Ship is a notoriously unpredictable Uma based on a horse that once set "12 billion yen" on fire by throwing a race, and it seems Jax Belle is also hard to pin down. "She loved the cameras when I saw her last Friday and will just do random stuff when she wants."
"The one time Belle has raced was more captivating than most of the races I've done in Umamusume, save for my first career win," they add. "I can imagine only getting more involved in Belle's races though when she can go full power in her next race."
"I might have to build up the menace to society that is Gold Ship but whether or not my phone can handle all the drop kicks is unknown. I'll certainly try though."
In a new update on Jax's health, Oxijinn writes: "I didn't expect the original post to blow up as much as it did so thank you for the amazing support and lovely fan art some people submitted! If you want to make your own, feel free to!"
"We will watch your career with great interest," a fellow Umamusume player replies.
