On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[PostwarGryphon]

I don't think Tanya's going to be that stubborn. But it will be funny to see her competing until she's 30. Of course, the only races she competes in at that age are 3km+ races, where she is an eternal menace to the dreams of young umamusume.

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Young Uma: "She's about forty years old and has had like three kids right? How hard can it be to beat an old hag like that, you're all being silly."


View: https://youtu.be/Su_64bHjGjk?si=RoXRQsnkkJ-FAhu8&t=7

Young Uma: "So mistakes were made."

 

[TheSmallSauce]

As funny as that is Tanya is more likely to start looking to transition for a "real" job by then.
Remember that she is very career driven and probably knows that her racing career is basically a short job before she probably inherits the Family Restaurant.

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She does have a real job by then. Competing in 3km+ races is her hobby. International G1 3km races are where she takes her vacations

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"Is that Umamusume wearing an apron?"

"Oh, you don't know? That's the boss lady of Suzukiya, down the road there."

"What?"

"Makes really good pierogies. Though you've probably heard that already."

"No, no, isn't she like nearly forty? I swear my grandpa used to watch her race."

"Oh, yeah, looks good for her age, don't you think?"

"She's an umamusume, they all look good for their age-- that's besides the point! How is she still racing?"

"Whaddaya mean? She ran the Ascot Gold Cup last month. Won it too."

"..."

"It's about four kilometers, I heard."

"..."

"She's probably gonna win this one too, which means the old boss will make free pierogies after the performance. Do you feel like going?"

"...Sure. I give up trying to make sense of this."

 

[Mentos]

From what I vaguely remember from the game, it was phrased as like "the first three years of the career are super important' and if you win the career, you continue as their trainer, but if you fail you're out.

 

[Lyrista]

Yep Maruzensky is totally a teenager. Completely convincing.

Spoiler: What's up fellow kids?

 

[TheSmallSauce]

From what I vaguely remember from the game, it was phrased as like "the first three years of the career are super important' and if you win the career, you continue as their trainer, but if you fail you're out.

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Yup, those first three years are super important cause it's when they're most visible and when they're still eligible for those prestigious handicap races. Nobody wants to talk about an uma that's never placed, though if it's a compelling underdog story, perhaps they could get voted into the Arima Kinen.

It should be said that there are well-known horses that didn't do well in their first three years, since horses mature at different rates. Famously McQueen didn't win anything big until the autumn of his second year of competition when he suddenly became the best long distance stayer in Japan for the next year and a half. It's usually expected for a future G1 winner to win a few G2 or G3 races, especially since those are usually qualifying races for the big G1s, but McQueen won his debut and then lost his next three starts (all ungraded races...) before finally winning two Open grade races and then randomly winning the Kikuka Sho with a very respectable time of 3:06.2. I imagine if he had not won the Kikuka Sho, he would have been retired and wouldn't have run his senior year.

Also, although it's not mentioned much, raising a racehorse is expensive. Like seriously, usually the only people owning, raising, training and racing horses are rich businessmen, oil tycoons or organizations whose whole operations revolve around selling to the former two. Horses with a strong pedigree might get some leeway in terms of how long early on counts as, but I imagine three years is the limit before they get retired to become a broodmare or become a riding horse for rookie jockeys to train with.