Grass Wonder Horse That Inspired Umamusume Character Died

Cygames announced on social media that the race horse Grass Wonder, which inspired the fictional character of the same name in the Umamusume: Pretty Derby game and anime, died. He was 30 years old when he died on August 8, 2025. In real life, the animal raced between 1997 and 2000 before being retired. 

In Umamusume: Pretty Derby, Grass Wonder is a character present since launch. She’s a two-star unit, though like all of them can be upgraded up to five stars if you get enough Star Pieces. Her skills like in her ability to run Mile or Long races on Turf, though since her Medium ranking is “B” it is easy to get that up to “A” level as well. In terms of strategy, you want to run her using either a Pace or Late strategy. This also tied in with her Unique Skill called Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way, as it makes her speed up if she’s in a Pace, Late, or End position toward the middle or back and passes someone.

She also plays prominent roles in original anime. Grass Wonder is a part of Team Spica alongside characters based on other major horses like Special Week, Silence Suzuka, Gold Ship, and El Condor Pasa. However, due to the way the story is told there, she’s only one of the more prominent characters in the first season. 

Given the nature of the game, there are a number of Umamusume: Pretty Derby characters based on race horses that are still alive. One of them is Haru Urara. As a result, fans of the racer in the title actually sent her grass to eat or even visited her in Japan. 

Umamusume: Pretty Derby is available for the PC and mobile devices, the original anime is streaming on Crunchyroll, and the Cinderella Gray anime is on Amazon.