Fans of Haru Urara, Smart Falcon, and the soon-to-be-released Copano Rickey in Umamusume will have new Dirt G1 races to run their favourites on.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby developer Cygames announced on Sunday (12 July) that the game's English version will soon get four new Dirt G1 races and three new racecourses to accommodate them. These new races and racecourses will be added on Tuesday (14 July) following a maintenance period starting at 7AM UTC (3PM SGT).

The four new Dirt G1 races being added are the Kawasaki Kinen, Zen-Nippon Junior Yushun, Kashiwa Kinen, and the Mile Championship Nambu Hai. New non-G1 Dirt races hosted at Oi Racecourse are also being implemented. Meanwhile, the three new racecourses being added include the Kawasaki Racecourse, Funabashi Racecourse, and Morioka Racecourse.

What are the new Dirt G1 races being added to Umamusume's English version?

The first of the new Dirt G1 races that players will encounter is the Zen-Nippon Junior Yushun, which is available in late December of Junior Year and requires at least 1,000 fans to enter. It will be a 1,600-meter Mile race on Dirt ran counterclockwise at the Kawasaki Racecourse. Real-life horses that have won the Zen-Nippon Junior Yushun and became the inspiration for Umamusume characters include Agnes Digital in 1999, Furioso in 2006, and Forever Young in 2023. 

Next is the Mile Championship Nambu Hai, which is available in early October of both Classic and Senior Year and requires at least 12,000 fans to enter. It will be another 1,600-meter Mile race on Dirt ran counterclockwise, this time at the Morioka Racecourse. Real-life horses that have won the Mile Championship Nambu Hai and became the inspiration for Umamusume characters include Agnes Digital in 2001, Espoir City in 2009, 2012, and 2013, Transcend in 2011, and Copano Rickey in 2016 and 2017. 

The other two new Dirt G1 races will only be available in Senior Year. The earlier race will be the Kawasaki Kinen, which is available in early February and requires at least 12,000 fans to enter. It will be a 2,100-meter Medium race on Dirt ran counterclockwise at the Kawasaki Racecourse. Real-life horses that have won the Kawasaki Kinen and became the inspiration for Umamusume characters include Furioso in 2011, Smart Falcon in 2012, and Hokko Tarumae in 2014, 2015, and 2016. 

Finally, the Kashiwa Kinen is available in early May and requires at least 12,000 fans to enter. It will be a 1,600-meter Mile race on Dirt ran counterclockwise in the Funabashi Racecourse. Real-life horses that have won the Kashiwa Kinen and became the inspiration for Umamusume characters include Espoir City in 2009, 2010, and 2012, Furioso in 2011, Hokko Tarumae in 2013, Copano Rickey in 2014, 2016, and 2017, and Wonder Acute in 2015.

Who can run in the new Dirt G1 races being added to Umamusume's English version?

These four new Dirt G1 races will be a valuable addition for the careers of Umamusume that primarily run on Dirt tracks. The Zen-Nippon Junior Yushun is especially valuable in the Trackblazer scenario, where Dirt runners do not have a viable G1 race to run in unless they raise their Aptitude for Turf tracks through Sparks.

Umamusume's English version only has two characters that primarily run on Dirt so far, namely Haru Urara and Smart Falcon. With that said, the game will soon get its third pure Dirt runner in Copano Rickey on 17 July. Copano Rickey can run as both a Front Runner or Pace Chaser and is geared towards Mile and Medium-length races on Dirt.

While Agnes Digital and Inari One can easily run on Dirt tracks too thanks to their innate ‘A’ Aptitude for Dirt tracks, they can also run on Turf and their careers still lean towards running more on Turf G1 races. The likes of Oguri Cap, Taiki Shuttle, and El Condor Pasa, while primarily being Turf runners, can also easily flex to running on Dirt tracks thanks to their innate ‘B’ Aptitude for Dirt.

The addition of new Dirt G1 races and racecourses marks the second time that Cygames has announced major additions to Umamusume's English version this month. Last week, Cygames announced that they will be adding an ‘Independent Training’ autoplay feature, as well as 60 FPS and 4K resolution Concerts to the game's PC version, as part of the 1.5-year anniversary celebration of the game's global release.