u/paokoutsopodi

Characters depicted in order: 1. Buena Vista 2. Almond Eye 3. Smart Falcon 4. Tanino Gimlet 5. Epiphaneia. The real life counterparts are in the same order.

Each and every Umamusume is based on a real, historical racehorse, and their behaviours (sometimes even the jockeys' or trainers') are depicted on the Uma. They have horse ears (which operate like a horses) as well as a tail (which operates quite differently to a real horse's but the comedic effect is worth it). There are some design elements which also refer to the real horse, either for all Umamusume or specific ones.

One such detail is the asymmetric accessories Umamusume wear, most commonly, ear pieces/details, which is an indicator for the real horse's gender. Right ear for stallion and left ear for mare.

The physical build of each Umamusume is based on the respective real life horse. If the real horse was big, the Umamusume will be tall. If they had large chest muscles, the Umamusume will have a large chest as well (Exceptions may apply in some cases, like Mejiro McQueen).

Most Umamusume wear heels with horseshoes under them in order to mirror a real horse's hoof, and the shape and angle for each Umamusume are based on the respective real horse's. For example, Smart Falcon (see slide 3.) wears Sneakers because his hooves were quite flat (and also because he mostly raced on dirt).

Umamusume may wear mismatched colour gloves/shoes, which shows that the real horse has different coloured hooves (see slide 5.)

Umamusume may also wear ear covers. This means that the horse wore a mask during their racing days. Buena Vista (see slides 1+6.) is one example, but Almond Eye (see slide 2.), who also wore a mask has her ears completely uncovered. Other Umamusume, like Ikuno Dictus, wear glasses to portray the real horse's mask (The one Umamusume who does wear a mask, El Condor Pasa, didn't wear one while racing irl).

Regarding Almond Eye, she wore a shadow roll, which is a piece of fabric that blocks part of the horse's vision so that it can't see and be spooked by their own or other horses' shadows. Almond Eye has a neckpiece that looks like a shadow roll, and most Umamusume whose real life counterpart wore one will have a similar accessory.

The hair colour of each Umamusume is usually based on the real horse's coat colour: Bay, Dark Bay, Gray, Chestnut, Black, and White (the only white-haired Umamusume is the NPC Happy Meek, who is entirely fictional). Exceptions do apply, as with Haru Urara and Twin Turbo whose hair colour is based on the masks the real horses wore.

The real horses' facial blaze patterns are usually depicted in the Umamusume's hair, like Buena Vista and Almond Eye (see slides 1,2,6 and 7.), but they may be skipped altogether, like Smart Falcon (see slides 3 and 8.)

Umamusume who have an accessory wrapped around an arm/leg means that the real life horse sustained an injury in that limb. Smart Falcon (see slide 3.) wears a garter on her left leg as the real Smart Falcon  sustained tenosynovitis on his left hock.

The outfits of each Umamusume usually contain the pattern of their jockey's silks. One such example is the pattern and colours of Smart Falcon's (see slides 3/8.) dress which are based on owner Toru Okawa's racing silks.

Lastly, other design details might be specific to certain Umamusume only.

For example, Almond Eye (see slide 2.) has 9 stars, 5 blue and 4 pink in her irises. The real Almond Eye won 9 Grade 1 Races, 5 mixed and 4 filly/mare races. Tanino Gimlet (see slides 4 and 9.) wears an eye patch because the real Tanino Gimlet has a lazy left eye which looks quite menacing. Uma Tanino Gimlet wears the eye patch on her right eye, in order to show only her menacing left. Buena Vista (see slide 1.) wears black and yellow checkered details because the real Buena Vista had bridles of the same colour.

I'm trying to push to 14k but I lose to stupid shit that highrolls because an Evo MK needs 15 elixir to be put down, despite me running Ronin, its supposed counter. Nice! I totally don't hate myself right now!

There's many more as well, such as Rudolf holding a finger up, which the way Yukio Okabe (real Rudolf's jockey, the guy with the book) used to celebrate right after winning and Neo Universe in the rain which references the moment after he won the Satsuki Sho, with jockey Demuro hugging NeoUni, both soaked by the drizzle that occurred that day. Which one is your favourite?

I've been playing this and it got me all the way from 11k to 13.5k and Ranked. I wanna know if there's any options out there I should consider in order to be more successful in Ranked and push for higher Leagues