Details
| Name / Japanese | Haru Urara / ハルウララ |
| Birth Year | 1996 |
| Sex | mare |
| Earnings | 1,129,000 yen |
| Races-Wins / G1-Wins | 113-0 / 0-0 |
| Sire | Nippo Teio |
| Dam (Sire) | Heroine (Lucky Sovereign) |
| Other site link | JBIS / en.netkeiba |
High-profile races
| Y D/M |
Track | Race Name | Topic | No. | Pl. |  |
| 1998 17/11 |
Kochi D1000 |
3yo | Her debut race (She finished last out of the five horses in the race.) |
3 | 5 | |
| 1998 04/10 |
Kochi D1300 |
C68 | Of all the races she ran, this was the closest she came to winning. She lost by a neck. |
6 | 2 | |
| 2003 27/07 |
Kochi D1300 |
G2 | First race after the boom was fully realized. (In this race, she was “unnaturally” the 2nd favorite. After this race, her favorites were all within the top 3.) |
10 | 7 | |
| 2003 07/09 |
Kochi D1300 |
Gambare!! Haru Urara (Fight!! Haru Urara) |
First race where someone won the race naming rights. (After this, the race naming rights for the races she ran sold well.) |
10 | 9 | |
| 2003 14/12 |
Kochi D1300 |
Haru Urara 100 Senki (Haru Urara 100th Race Memorial) |
Her 100th race, as the name of the race suggests. | 5 | 9 | |
| 2004 22/03 |
Kochi D1300 |
YS Derby Jockey Tokubetsu | JRA’s star jockey, Yutaka Take, rode her in this race. | 5 | 10 | ▲ |
| 2004 23/05 |
Kochi D1300 |
『Haru Urara Sanka』 Hatsubai Kinen Tokubetsu | It was reported that she had lost 109 in a row, ranking second in Japanese history. (It is not known whether the record of the second place in Japanese history is correct or not.) |
5 | 2 | |
| 2004 03/08 |
Kochi D1300 |
Haru Urara・Challenge Cup | This race was the last race in which she ran. Her brother Onozomi Dori and sister Mitsuishi Flower also ran in the race. Onozomi Dori won the race. |
3 | 5 |
Here is a video about Haru Urara created by World Horse Racing
- Haru Urara was a small, timid horse from a young age.
She did not sell and debuted at the NAR’s Kochi Keiba as a horse owned by her breeding farm, Nobuta Bokujo. - She never won after that.
Please keep in mind that the following information may be factually incorrect.
Her Connections
- Nobuta Bokujo (Nobuta Farm)
Nobuta Bokujo is her birth farm and her first owner. - Kochi Keiba (Kochi Horse Racing)
It is one of the NAR (National Association of Racing) and is sponsored by Kochi Prefecture.
It is said that the management was in crisis at the time. - Dai Muneishi
Muneishi is her trainer and is a member of Kochi Keiba. - Takao Yokoyama
Yokoyama became her second owner around the spring of 2003. - M.A. Office
It became her third owner around March of 2004.
The representative is Mihoko Anzai, who is also an essayist.
The Haru Urara Boom
- Kochi horse racing play-by-play announcer Koji Hashiguchi began to pay attention to the number of consecutive losses for Haru Urara when her losing streak exceeded 60 consecutive losses.
Hashiguchi thought, “If we promote Haru Urara as Japan’s Zippy Chippy, Kochi horse racing will become a little more popular.”
He started talking to people about Haru Urara, a horse that has been losing a lot of races.
(Zippy Chippy – Wikipedia) - On June 13, 2003, she was featured in a local newspaper, the Kochi Shimbun.
Later, on July 23, she was featured in a nationwide newspaper and then on nationwide broadcast TV, where she became popular as the horse that couldn’t win.
She was especially popular as the “負け組の星 (Star of Losers)” since restructuring due to the recession was rampant and a hot topic in Japan at the time. - After the Haru Urara boom, Kochi Keiba attracted attention and sales increased.
The race, in which jockey Yutaka Take was to ride her, attracted the largest number of visitors ever to Kochi Racecourse, ticket sales were also the highest ever, and Haru Urara-related goods sold very well.
About Money
Here I write about money as it relates to Haru Urara.
- The first is the money paid by owners to trainers (stables).
Trainers use those money to train thoroughbreds as racehorses and send them to races.
In the case of Kochi Keiba at that time, it was estimated to have cost between 1.3 and 1.4 million yen per year. - The second is the race start fees.
It is the money paid by the organizer to the horse owner when their horse has run.
In the case of Kochi Keiba at that time, 60,000 yen per race was paid by the organizer, Kochi Keiba, to the owner of the horse running the race.
Because Haru Urara raced about 20 times a year, she was able to recoup most of her costs (money paid to her trainer) on her own.
If she had been in a body that would not have allowed her to run 20 races a year she would have retired early and probably would have been slaughtered if she could not have been utilized for riding or other purposes after retirement.
At one time, Halu Urara also raced even though her hoof was rotten and had a hole in it.
———
The issue of the human and land costs of a single racehorse’s life has been around for a long time and continues to this day.
(Although it has become less common among top-class JRA horses, it is still common for lower-level NAR horses to run horses in races just to earn race start fees, or to use races as training while receiving race start fees.)
After the August 3, 2004 race, her connections announced they would retire her in March 2005.
She never returned to racing after that.
It was reportedly due to a conflict between the owner, M.A. Office’s Anzai, and the trainer, Muneishi.
In the topic related to Halu Urara, attention tends to focus only on Ms. Anzai’s obsession with money.
Here I will write about each position, with some of my own subjectivity.
- Anzai forcibly had Harulara transferred to a training facility in Tochigi Prefecture without receiving the necessary documents for the transfer from Muneishi.
Anzai later claimed such things as “Muneishi agreed on it,” “Muneishi had no time to relax due to his heavy workload,” and “Haru Urara was in need of medium- to long-term rest and would have lost her racing life if she had run in the race as it was.” - Anzai owned the Harulara trademark and was reportedly profiting from Haru Urara merchandise and other products.
She also received donations for Haru Urara, so she probably did not need to force Haru Urara to run.
As will be discussed later, Anzai’s relationship with Kochi Keiba and trainer Muneishi had deteriorated so much that she may not have even been allowed to run in racing.
(The manager of the facility where Haru Urara was training said that she was in good enough condition to win a race at the Kochi Keiba level for sure.) - It was believed that Muneishi was aiming to win while running many races with her before Haru Urara retired.
Muneishi and the people at the stables may have been proud to have been involved with her and worked with her for a long time.
That is why they wanted to do it their way.
It may also have been the intention of Kochi Keiba, to which Muneishi belongs.
When her first owner wanted to retire her and put her on a riding horse, Muneishi said, “She is too timid to be a riding horse,” and looked for a new owner, which led to the Haru Urara boom that followed. - Kochi Keiba would have wanted Haru Urara to run in as many races as possible.
The more she runs, the more ticket sales Kochi Keiba makes, and they can profit from a portion of those ticket sales.
It was reported that Anzai sent Kochi Keiba a certified letter of trademark rights for the Haru Urara goods.
After Retirement
Haru Urara’s racehorse registration was cancelled in October 2006 after Anzai did not respond to NAR’s confirmation of her intention to continue racing.
- In October 2006, Anzai built a horse therapy facility and used Haru Urara for horse therapy.
It was reported that Anzai had also suggested to the superintendent of education of the city of Katsuura that horse therapy be used for education.
I don’t know what is really going on, but I wouldn’t be surprised if people think that Anzai is using Haru Urara in a new way to make money. - In the summer of 2009, Haru Urara was transferred to a farm in Hokkaido.
Anzai revealed that she planned to breed Haru Urara to Deep Impact.
She said she plans to solicit donations since she cannot pay the stud fee.
However, this plan was no longer possible, and in the end, Haru Urara did not produce any offspring. - After that, the whereabouts and life and death of Haru Urara were unknown, but in 2012 or 2013, Anzai entrusted Haru Urara to Matha Farm in Chiba Prefecture.
It is reported that Anzai paid the deposit fee for about a half year, but has not paid it since then.
Finally, in February 2014, Haru Urara’s ownership was relinquished and transferred to her support group, the “Haru Urara no Kai”.
She is still alive as of June 2022.
Haru Urara no Kai official site
Matha Farm official site
Criticisms of the Haru Urara Boom
- There was naturally criticism of the Haru Urara boom, which was noted for losing.
For a racehorse, winning is the greatest honor, and without winning, it is difficult to even live. - Two weeks before the race in which he was to ride Haru Urara, jockey Yutaka Take revealed that he was fed up with the Haru Urara boom.
However, when he saw how enthusiastic the fans at Kochi Racecourse on the day of the race, he thought, “It’s okay that there is a star like this.
Yutaka Take called her “a great horse with slow legs. - Her first owner and breeding farm, Nobuta Bokujo, disliked Haru Urara Boom from the standpoint of a breeding farm because “Her dam, Heroine’s foals (Haru Urara’s brothers and sisters) would not be bought.”
Products Related to Haru Urara
- So many books, music and goods about her were published.
- Films were also made, including the Japanese film “Haru Urara” and an American-made short documentary film called “The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere.”
- The game application “Uma Musume Pretty Derby” also features a character based on Haru Urara.
Others
- In addition, she was featured on a poster for the Kisarazu Police Station in Chiba Prefecture.
- In addition, with the development of social networking services, information on her recent activities is more often disseminated than in the past.
I was waiting for the Haru Urara one! Thank you!