This summer I was sitting in my friend's living room doing what we call “parallel play,” where we each enjoy a separate activity while in the same room. She drew and I played Umamusume: Beautiful Derby. Even though her activity was generally more cultured than mine, it only took a few races for her, her partner, and her roommate to gather around my phone to cheer on my racer as if it were a high-stakes sport. This is undeniable: Praise makes everyone a horse girl, and that's exactly what happened to many regular gamers in 2025.
If you somehow missed the fever that has swept the country this year, let me try to explain this undoubtedly strange concept. Umamusume: Beautiful Derby this is a game is all about controlling an anime horse girl – they're much like regular girls, but with horse ears and tails and a love for carrots – during racing season. You will need to balance the improvement their different characteristicsmanaging their relaxation and happiness, as well as other details such as their skills and total number of fans. The game has been around in Japan since 2021, but only arrived on mobile devices and PC in 2025.
It makes more sense to think of it as a sort of roguelike, where each run you choose a driver and try to do better than the last time. Successful past horses can also be used to form a new line, giving them the best start on the road to success. The real kicker in the game lies in the races themselves, which players can watch unfold in full. You'll see absolute stunning wins, surge ahead from the underdog at the last minute, and suddenly find yourself desperately screaming at the top of your lungs at an anime horse girl to activate her special ultimate skill.
These breathtaking races have made the game an absolute hit on Twitch. According to TwitchTrackerThe number of game viewers increased by 1.1 thousand%, and the number of streams increased by 944%. Even content creators you wouldn't expect to see playing the game, like Ludwig and Northern lionLounging around anime horses.
This has gone far beyond Twitch. I've never been who I think I am horse girl “I had a quiet respect for those who were committed to this lifestyle and laughed at recess in elementary school, but I was never hooked.” All this changed from PraiseHowever, and not only for me. The whole world has become infected with horse fever, both virtual racers and real creatures.
That's because each horse girl in the game is actually based on real-life Japanese racehorses, with the developers even incorporating existing relationships between horses that share a common origin. Although many horses have died (my favorite steed, Silence Suzuka, passed away in 1998), some, like Gold Ship, are still alive and have gained a huge number of new fans thanks to Praise. For example, before Haru Urara's horse passed away in September of this year, she was donated 2.5 tons of grass – approximately the weight of two cars – according to fans. Many fell in love with her for her unenviable record on the track: zero victories and 113 defeats.
Love for horse girls Praise has also become a viral internet sensation in almost every way. As someone who had never shown an algorithm any interest in horses before, I suddenly felt fancams about the real Golden Ship and horse girl video Agnes Tachyon music by Death Grips in my feed.
These were not just edits – Praise It's translated into real life more than many other popular games this year, and many of them have been downright touching. Fans have meetings at race tracks where they dress up in costumes and cheer for real horses, and I've seen several videos of fans dressing up as horse girls to attend Denver Broncos games. Even the International Horse Museum in Kentucky dedicated an entire exhibition horse girls and their colleagues.
It's important to note that Umamusume's overall media library extends far beyond the game. There are many anime series and manga, but none of them (especially manga, since translated physical versions are difficult to find) created much of a stir in the United States prior to release Umamusume: Beautiful Derby. All of this has now given fans even more horse girl lore and goodness to latch onto, and a second scenario – a sort of career path structure used in every run – was only added to the game in November, reigniting the fire in many players.
Influence Umamusume: Beautiful Derby about pop culture in 2025 was undeniable – this is the main reason it made the top twenty Polygon's 50 Best Games of the Year. Many players learned about the history of horse racing, sent weed, dressed up with friends, and even made new ones, all over a shared love of anime horse girls.
