“Not second, I’m upgrade! ...No me gusta hablar inglés más de lo necesario. Se me da bien, pero prefiero mi lengua materna. De todos modos, ¡correré y ganaré, sin importar si la pista es de césped o de tierra!”
“Ok, Digital, stay calm. Your kamioshi from America called for you specifically to teach her to run on turf, and her teammates as well, so keep it together. Never mind the Chilean baddie standing in front of you who also happens to be thirteen-time winner and three-time G1 winner Cougar II. Stay focused on that ass- er, the ASSIGNED TASK, and turn your oshi into a turf champion! …Oh, who am I kidding, MY HEART CAN’T TAKE IT I’M GONNA EXPLODE AAAAAAAAGHASDKJGBBSADHJLKG-”
“¡Maldición, esta perra está loca!”
I’ve been meaning to draw Cougar II ever since I first researched Secretariat, since they ran in a race together. Horses that can run on both turf and dirt are rare, and only four individual characters in the JP server have an A rank in both. With Cougar having those aptitudes, it reminded me of Agnes Digital, of whom Secretariat was the grandsire of. Since Digitan is from America, I wanted to draw her as well, so I thought of a scenario in which the American Umamusume needed to learn to run on turf before they visited Tracen for a cultural exchange festival, or something. I figured the two of them would be the best teachers for the job.
When Cougar was very young, her family traveled from their home in Santiago to see the Fiesta de la Tirana, held at the town of La Tirana in the Tarapacá Region of Chile. Seeing the parade of costumed dancers perform for the Virgen del Carmen captivated the young Umamusume, and she was especially entranced by the devil dancers, dressed in bright reds and golds with elaborate masks. The cultural context and history behind the death of Ñusta Huillac was lost on the six-year-old Cougar, and as she watched the procession she could only come to one conclusion: “The devil is so cool!” Even after being gently chastised by her family, Cougar still couldn’t get the costumes out of her head. As the years went on, Cougar also developed a love for racing, and was among the top five in her class in her hometown’s racing school. A trainer visiting from America noticed her talent and scouted her, and it was arranged for Cougar to transfer to Lexington Academy in Kentucky, residing in Claiborne Dormitory. It was here that she designed her signature racewear, using the same reds and golds that had captivated her long ago. Since an Umamusume named Cougar had already attended Lexington in the past, Cougar raced under the name ‘Cougar II,” and incorporated the numeral into her brand. She was not a copy, but an upgrade, the newest and best iteration of the Cougar name. Cougar II made waves in the American racing world by performing equally well on both turf and dirt, a rarity in the States especially due to the comparative lack of turf races. Not only did she claim many victories, Cougar II also knew how to work a crowd, and quickly gathered loyal fans who were always excited to see the Big Cat run. Despite her success abroad, Cougar II hasn’t forgotten where she came from, and always makes time to visit Santiago over holidays and breaks during the semester. Many Umamusume of Latin-American descent found her love for her homeland inspiring, and racers like El Condor Pasa and Mucho Macho Man would cite her as an Umamusume they looked up to when they were young. Cougar II’s career would eventually wind down, and she’d announce her engagement, with the fiance/fiancee’s identity remaining unknown despite dedicated efforts by fans to track them down. Since Cougar doesn’t wear her mask in public, she Clark-Kent’s her way through normal life and disguises her lover’s identity by proxy. She plans to tie the knot when she retires, but until then Cougar II still attends Lexington Academy. Students often come to her for advice about running on turf or dirt, and her friend and dorm-mate Sham has asked her to help Team Polaris train on turf in preparation for the upcoming Tracen Academy Cultural Exchange field trip. Cougar agreed to lend a hand, and is curious about fellow all-rounder Agnes Digital’s turf-training style as well.
Anyone familiar with Agnes Digital knows that her home and heart are in Japan, full stop. However, that’s not to say she hates returning to her birth country, far from it. Digital enjoys seeing extended family (for a bit) and catching up with old friends. But what she likes the most about visiting Kentucky is getting to be an American Uma Simp for a while. Digitan loves visiting local conventions and fan-meetups around the Lexington area, and eagerly posts her translated fics from the past year on UmAO3 for American readers. Finally, since she’s a Tracen Academy student, Agnes Digital is allowed to use the Lexington Academy campus for training, since Director May Howard wants to encourage fair competition between foreign racers for events like the Kentucky Derby or the Breeders’ Cup. In practice, this means Digitan can observe Umas she doesn’t normally get to see, including her American Kamioshi, Secretariat. Agnes Digital’s middle school friend Chancey Squaw was mentored by Secretariat, and Digitan got to meet her using that connection. Secretariat was impressed by Digital’s skill and track record, and keeps in contact with her, although she doesn’t always understand her fangirl/online behavior. For her part, Digitan is over the moon that an Umamusume of such prestige considers her worth talking to, and she practically worships the ground she walks on. It’s for this reason that Digital jumped at the chance to help Secretariat and her team train on turf, so she can get closer to her kamioshi and other strong Umamusume.
Obviously, Cougar II’s racewear is inspired by the devil costumes from the Fiesta de la Tirana in Chile. I initially thought Cougar was from Brazil, and wanted to do a Carnival outfit. When I realized my mistake, I sought out different inspiration, although the final outfit does evoke Carnival to an extent. (Cougar is Brazilian on her father’s side, and she’s gone to Carnival, but didn’t like it as much as the festival in Chile.) I also leaned really hard into the cougar/big cat theming, like the symbols on the side-skirts, and I put the “II” numeral in various places as well. The lighting in the photo of the real horse I used made Cougar II look blue in some parts, so I incorporated that into the Umamusume version’s hair and costume. For Digital, I just drew her casual outfit. (She left her bag and bracelet at home because they were too annoying to draw.) I chose to give Cougar wide hips, because I haven’t drawn a character with those proportions yet, and because it meshed well with Digitan being in the picture, since she is a known ‘caboose’ appreciator, as King Halo can personally attest to. Finally, I made Cougar have immense national pride as a character trait, since you don’t hear about many Chilean horses in the US, and also to compensate for me thinking she was going to be Brazilian at first. Brazil and Chile are two different places.
With that, Cougar II is finished. Hopefully the pictures don’t look too blurry. Next on my to-do list is a profile and revamp for a personal favorite of mine, Pvt. Smiles. I’ve actually tracked down the daughter of the trainer of the real-life horse on Facebook, but I’ve been too shy to ask questions so far. Not sure how I would even begin with that direct message. After Smiley, I’ll draw Ghostzapper next.
*All of the Spanish was translated with DeepL. If there are better ways to say these phrases, please let me know.*
Si puedes leer esto sin necesidad de un traductor, ¡eres increíble!
