Challenge Accepted Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray Episode 7 Reaction | ウマ娘 シンデレラグレイ

Some information for the register issue:
A real horse's career is roughly between the age of 2-6 years old, and then they will retire and die at the age of 20-30.
Classic Triple Crown are three G1 races only for 3-year-old horses.
To participate in a Classic, horse owners must pay the Classic registration fee three times in total: the first in October when the horse is two years old, the second in January when the horse is three years old, and the final two weeks before the Classic. Oguri moved from the local to the Central in 1988 in order to compete in the Classic, but was unable to compete because he had not paid the initial registration fee in 1987. (BTW, Rudolf won the Classic Triple Crown in 1984 and retired in 1986.) In 1992,when Oguri had retired and become a hall of famer in 1991, the JRA established an additional registration system. This system helped another legendary horse in 1999. Uma fans are familiar with this horse, T.M.Opera, aka the main character in Uma Musume Road To The Top. This is one of the biggest impacts Oguri brought to the Japanese horse racing industry.

As long as people behave well and explain things correctly, you'll still be surprised how much the Cygames developers worked on the historical aspect and researching information down to the smallest details.
The Umamusume universe is so rich in information and references based on our reality that it's impossible for someone new to the franchise in general to understand everything behind it (even today, I'm still discovering things).
For my part, when I discovered the franchise with the first season of Pretty Derby, I did some research afterwards, and the Umamusume franchise taught me so much about horses and racing, as well as some good and very sad things that happened in our reality. Even today, I'm shocked by some events related to Umamusume / (irl horses)
Even today, I've seen people think it's just a "strange" sports anime with cute anime horse girls, etc., like in 2016/2018.
But despite that, the Umamusume franchise aims to be happy, funny, and full of gags! I'm impatiently waiting for the global version of the gacha to better discover each of the umamusume (113 playable for the moment XD, not counting the next ones, the non-playable umamusume, and other characters).

"Equipse ferlst, de lefst nowear" 🗿 That's my GOAT 7 crown winner

Your Questions (No Spoilers)

■ Limited Active Career Period
The active career of a racehorse, as you explained, typically lasts about 3 to 4 years, and there are several reasons for this.
Racehorses demonstrate their achievements by competing in races. For example, the “Triple Crown Classic Races” mentioned in this episode are considered impeccable achievements. Other well-known races, such as the Takarazuka Kinen (June), the Arima Kinen (December), and the Tenno Sho held in spring and autumn (with a shield awarded by the Japanese Imperial Family as a secondary prize), are also recognized as prestigious Grade 1 races that signify notable accomplishments.
It’s not uncommon for racehorses that have achieved exceptional results in such races to retire from dangerous competitions to preserve their bloodline. This applies not only to horses that reach their limits due to injury or illness but also to robust racehorses that could still compete and earn more prize money. The potential profits from breeding or the importance of preserving their lineage often outweigh the value of continuing to race. Retiring a young, strong horse to become a breeding horse allows for a longer period of producing offspring, which is a significant factor (some young stallions are bred over 200 times a year).
Another factor, similar to human athletes, is that racehorses also have a peak in their physical abilities. When their performance declines and further victories seem unlikely, owners and trainers may decide to retire them. Continuing to race and suffering repeated heavy losses could diminish the horse’s value.

■ Racehorses with Long Careers
There are multiple reasons for this as well, but racehorses that fail to achieve sufficient results to become breeding horses may shift to a strategy of continuing to race for a longer period to earn prize money.
Such horses are often seen in local dirt racing. Dirt racehorses, which face less strain on their legs compared to turf courses that demand high speeds and put significant stress on their legs, tend to have longer racing careers than central turf racehorses. For example, Wonder Acute, who also appears as an Uma Musume, debuted in 2009 and continued racing until 2015. Her character is portrayed as a “cute, grandmother-like beautiful girl.”

■ Race Intervals
This varies case by case and also depends on the era.
In the past, animal welfare was less prioritized than it is today, and horses were sometimes raced two or three times a month (Oguri Cap’s Kasamatsu era is a prime example of this). This was done not only to earn prize money but also to build a strong track record and increase the horse’s value. For instance, the NHK Mile Cup is held in early May, but just about two weeks later, the Tokyo Yushun (Japan Derby) takes place, leading to a bold rotation strategy called the Mile-Classic Rotation (commonly known as the MC Rotation), which defies conventional scheduling. While it’s generally true that “there is a significant gap between races for racehorses,” it’s important to know that this is not always the case.

■ Rudolf’s Role
She is the “student council president” of the Central Training Center Academy. Her role appears to involve responsibilities and authority that clearly exceed those of a typical school student council, so it might be more accurate to call her the “athlete representative.” Additionally, due to the game’s depiction, she is portrayed as an almost eternal student council president transcending eras. Since Uma Musume has elements of fantasy, this aspect is left somewhat ambiguous.
In the game, Uma Musume are depicted as “fairy-like beings” coexisting with humans, possessing extraordinary beauty, being exclusively female, and having an exceptionally long lifespan (apparently).

Japanese Uma Musume fans have their own rules.
Recognizing people who love Umamusume as "trainer"

If you too like Uma Musume, you need to call yourself a "TRAINER"!
Japanese Uma Musume fans will be happy to welcome you!

You have earned the title of trainer!
You are a trainer from today!

The three Classic races, the Classics – Satsuki-Sho, Japanese Derby (also known as the Tokyo Yushun), and Kikka-Sho are prestigious races because there's only *one* opportunity to run them, and they're restricted to a specific age.

That means any horse entering them is competing solely with other horses in their generation. Even qualifying for one marks them as the top percentile in their age, and winning one indicates they're a generational talent.

The races have different lengths and are run at different courses, so faster horses stand a higher chance of winning the shorter Satsuki-Sho, but the brutally long Kikka-sho favours horses with better stamina.

Winning more than one requires a horse have both incredible speed and incredible stamina, more than their peers. Winning all three to claim the Triple Crown? That requires *exceptional* ability. And yes, Symboli Rudolph managed it.

■Your Misunderstanding
Classic races are not something you can wait a year to run in.
They are special races that can only be run once in a lifetime, at the age of three.
If a horse misses this opportunity, it can never participate in them again.
Because these races are so rare, a horse that manages to win all three of them earns the prestigious title of “Triple Crown Champion.”

You should look at them as anime girls as Cygames intended to. It just they based the story and aspect from real life horses but they're still anime girls in the show with human life

They assimilate some of the quirk and personality of the original horse to these girls , their costumes color usually match the jokey and also their race records are the same so if you read real oguri cap's race history from wiki you'll get spoiled lol

Speaking of injury, yes they do euthanize race horses who got injury during race
The thing about horses are, they are both heavy af and have very thin legs (imagine trying to balance a water gallon with four chopsticks), when one leg is broken the other 3 can barely support their own weight thus making them suffer a lot. Even if you try to heal broken bones, the time it takes to heal get outweighed by the time they live in pain.
Not all injuries results in immediate euthanasia though, some horses actually managed to get back to win races after suffering injuries.

A little fact about Tazuna Hayakawa (the lady in green).
Fans suspect she's really a horse girl, and that her true name is Tokino Minoru. Tokino Minoru was a racehorse in the early 1950s. He won 10 races, including Satsuki Sho and the Japanese Derby. However, he passed away only at the age of three, just after the Derby.
(He suffered from weak legs, especially sand-crack. It caused his death.)
There are various pieces of information and references she says in the game and about herself that also refer to reality and to her real-life owner. In the game, we also learn that she's faster than most umamusume at catching up with those who are behind. The first season's artbook shows an image of her with horse ears, but this has never been shown in the anime or games; it remains a mystery whether she's human or an umamusume.

Moreover, there's also Tracen's director, Akikawa Yayoi, who only appears in both games (gacha game and pixel art game) and in the game's opening and one ending of a special episode. Fans expect her to be a horse girl, and her true character is Northern Taste.
Northern Taste was a racehorse in the early 1970s. He came to Japan as a studhorse, and his descendants changed horseracing in Japan. He and Sunday Silence rejuvenated Shadai Group and contributed himself to horse productions in Japan.

Eclipse is undeafeated racing horse from 1764-1789, founding sire of almost all modern racing horse. Almost all top tier throughbred horses bloodlines can all be traced to Eclipse

Nah Joe, head up. You're definitely not the only one who gets confused by just watching the anime (I felt the same way, even as I watched the main series), because the Umamusume-anime series (not just Cinderella Grey) simply leaves out a lot of key information and expects you to either have it already or research it yourself. Here some information the anime left out:

The classic triple crown is an annual G1 event (and has presumably the highest reputation of any cup in Japanese horse racing). However, there is a strict age restriction on when Umamusume can participate. If you can't take part due to an injury or a missed deadline, this opportunity is gone forever, because next year you will already be too old to participate. It's literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and because it's so popular and prestigious, it's a very big deal if you miss it out in your career. That's why Oguri is so insistent on being allowed to take part despite the missed deadline. It's NOW or NEVER.

There are also a bunch of other G1 races that have only a minimum age requirement and can therefore be run multiple times as soon as the Umamusume are old enough. But none of these cups has such a high reputation as the Classic Triple Crown.

The classics are 3 crown races for colts, and 3 tiara races for fillies. They are limited to horses at 3 years old. But there are many other open (age 3 or 4+ and any sex) G1s. Some are for 2 years old only.

For Rudolf, ‘undefeated triple crowns’ means she won every race and the three classics since her debut. Then she went on to win other 4 G1 races for the total of 7 G1 wins, thus earning the title of ‘seven crowns’.

Yarno Muteki gave Oguri a left hand shake as a manga reader in the latest chapters that shit was peak

I am glad that you are willing to learn about how Race horse and Umamusume works instead of quitting from reacting to recent episodes.

The "True" race had just begun for Oguri Cap. Animation will go above and beyond during each race.

Them before: "Yeah, whatever."
Them after hearing her record: "A'ight BET."

I don't think you need to see them as not anime girls (which would dehumanize them and would make it harder for you to like them as you would be looking them as straight up horses instead of characters/people in this anime, i think humanizing them is part of the point of this anime), just know that the events are from actual history but animefied so if a horce won X race but lost Y and did not participate in Z that is what is gonna happen in this anime

The triple crown races, also known as classic races, is an opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime. Once you missed it, you missed it for good

Since I’m Japanese and not very good at English, I’ll be using translation to write my comments.
So please forgive me if anything sounds strange.
Regarding the Classic races in Japanese horse racing, I thought they might be a bit hard to understand, so I’ll give an example from a different sport that might be more relatable.
Winning a Classic race is kind of like winning the Rookie of the Year award in other professional sports.
Strictly speaking, this comparison isn’t exactly accurate.
But what I really want to convey is that winning a Classic race doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the strongest, the best, or at the top overall.
Classic races are competitions to determine the best among the same generation during a specific period.
There are also races where horses of all ages compete, regardless of their generation.
So even if a horse doesn't compete in the Classics, it can still reach the top.

Umamusume's voice actors will hold a live concert this week
Of course, Oguri's voice actor will be there.

And there will be an anime broadcast during the live show.
You will watch the latest anime broadcast with 20,000 "trainers" (Umamusume fans)!
The voice actors of Oguri at the event will be watching the animation with us.

I'll be there and I'm really looking forward to it!
Perhaps the voice actor of Oguri will sing the ending song too!

I can't wait.

The Japan Derby is considered the highest honor in horse racing, and is the dream race that all horse racing professionals aspire to. Approximately 7,000 thoroughbreds are born each year, and only a few dozen selected horses can enter the race. A jockey who wins a G1 race is called a G1 jockey, but if he wins the Derby, he is called a Derby jockey.

By the way, my favorite Derby horses are Vodka, who won the Derby despite being a mare, and Sunny Brian, who was said by the public to have won the Satsuki Sho by fluke, but ended up winning the Derby and becoming a double crown winner.

no one can hate you for not knowing things about real horse race, because i didnt too when the first time i played the game.

keep up the good work

This is the reason why Junior crown was a waste of time Joe. Because Oguri will miss the classic races due to the deadline. Of course there are other things going on in the background in the real life situation that being the original owner of Oguri was reluctant to sell her.


Edit: F these JRA rules btw but they exist for a reason. The Triple crown title is once in a horse lifetime this is the same for the other league in different country.

Some info I haven't seen other people mentioned yet

5:45 Tamamo Cross have lightning on her because the real life horse's nickname. His Father was also a gray horse, and used to have the nickname "The white lightning." Later when Tamamo Cross started to perform, He inherited the same nickname from his father.
Some people also call him "The lightning junior" to distinguish him from his father.

7:10 The Seven Crown: Symboli Rudolf had won 13 races in his life. Out of those 13, 7 of them are G1. He was the first horse who did that in 1985, and the record was finally broken in 2020 (now the top record are Nine Crown). So for the past 35 years he hold the record for the most G1 wins.

The teammates' names are a combination of the names of racehorses that were in the stables of trainer Tsutomu Setoguchi, who managed Oguri Cap.

MEIKUN TSUKASA* = Meisho Samson + Tsukasa Power
*It seems that the term "Meisho(名将, great general)" has been replaced with "名君, great ruler", which has a similar meaning.
KRAFT UNIVER = Rhein Kraft + Neo Universe
GOD HANNIBAL = God Speed + Maruka Hannibal

Don't worry, racing rule are complicated, and of course no one can knows every things on earth. Don't feel like you are being obliged to know every things before watching. I believe people don't hate you because you lack of specific knowledge, they are just very enthusiastic on sharing those knowledge with you.

If cygames keep this quality of the animation, Japan Cup will make blue lock and Tbate fans hysteric

Prime time for race horses is about 3 years. there are some horses that race for 6-9 years but average is 3 and their win ratios start to plummet after that. I did research on why horses have to be put down with leg injuries. its a combination of how horses leg bones work so they rarely heal correctly, and the mental aspect horses are active animals and being forced to not move makes them depressed or they fight it and hurt them selves trying to move

The tutorial is over.
The story starts here.

And here's a suggestion.
I want you to choose 10 of your favorite characters after the end of the first cool.

And I want you, the viewers, to pick your 10 favorite characters.
Let's talk about your favorite characters.

Uma Musume fans are very enthusiastic and I think it will be a lot of fun!

Predict your favorite character
I think you will like Oguri, Joe, March, Creek, Tamamo Cross, Berno, Norn Ace, Tazuna, and Aldane.

And I want you to tell me your 10 favorite characters again after 2 cool years.
Maybe your favorite character will change.