Japan’s fund for retired racehorses has raised more than 1.8 million US dollars over the past 10 years, mostly thanks to fans of the mobile game Umamusume Pretty Derby. This fund, called the Nice Nature Memorial Donation, is run by the Retired Horse Association of Japan. It uses the money to pay for vet care, safe homes, and other needs so old racehorses can live well after they stop racing. The fund started small in 2017, but donations jumped more than 30 times higher after the game came out in February 2021. People gave about 35.8 million Japanese yen, or around 225,000 US dollars, in that first year alone because fans fell in love with the characters based on real horses and learned about the hard life of retired horses from the game and its TV show. Even after the real horse Nice Nature died in May 2023 at age 35, people still donate a lot to the fund named in her honor. Fans have also helped other horses by raising money to fix stables for Meisho Doto and by giving support to Haru Urara.

It is with heavy hearts that we share that Grass Wonder passed away on August 8. The legendary racehorse's legacy serves as the inspiration for the character of the same name in Umamusume: Pretty Derby. We share our condolences to all the staff involved in Grass Wonder's care.

Off Pebbles Beach in Barbados, photographer Ana Elisa Sotelo joined horse handler Glenfield Clarke on a morning swim with a racehorse named Zorah. Sotelo says she was mesmerized by the way the horse and groom seemed to “become kind of like one creature.”