While Career Mode is where you’ll spend most of your time in Umamusume Pretty Derby, the real challenge (and the better rewards) comes from the PvP mode, Team Trials. In Team Trials, your Umamusume faces off against other players’ teams in a series of races across different categories. Players compete for points, ranks, and weekly rewards based on overall team performance and placements. If you’re just getting started, this guide breaks down how Team Trials races work and how to build a strong team to win them in Umamusume: Pretty Derby.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Best Horses for All New Trainer Missions
During the New Trainer Missions Event in Umamusume: Pretty Derby, players will have to run specific races; here are the best horses for each of them.
What Are Team Trials in Umamusume Pretty Derby?
Team Trials is a PvP-style game mode in Umamusume Pretty Derby, where your team of trained Umamusume compete against other players’ teams from all over the world. You can access it from the Race tab at the bottom of your screen.
When you enter the Team Trials section in the game, you’ll see two options:
- Team Race – This lets you pick an opponent and start racing.
- Edit Team – This is where you set up your squad of Umamusume for each race type.
Each round consists of five races based on the game’s standard distance categories:
- Medium
- Sprint
- Mile
- Dirt
- Long
- (with a randomized distance)
To participate, you'll need at least one Umamusume trained for each category. This means you need a balanced team of five unique characters to play in Team Trials for the first time.
How Do Team Trials in Umamusume Pretty Derby Work?
Team Trials aren't real-time. When you pick one of the three available opponents, you’re racing against their preset team, not a live player. That gives you a bit of an edge, as there’s no unpredictable player input on the other side.
Your opponents in Team Trials are matched based on your current Team Rank.
Each match consists of five races, one for each category listed above. You can either watch the races play out or skip to the results to quickly see placements. The victory rules for each race are:
- If one of your characters places 1st, you win that race.
- If your opponent’s character places 1st, they win.
- If a neutral AI-controlled character takes 1st, the race is a draw.
Regardless of whether you win or lose each race, your team earns Team Points based on the overall placement of your characters. On top of that, every race victory adds a bonus percentage to your total score for that round, giving you an extra edge.
Team Trials Class Progression, Explained
Team Trials operate on a weekly ranking system, where players are divided into different Classes (Tiers) based on their Team Points. Your goal is to climb through the classes and earn better rewards each week.
Here’s how class progression works:
- Promotion: If your total points exceed the promotion threshold for your class, you'll move up the ranks. Reaching a new class for the first time comes with special promotion rewards, including Carats, especially for hitting Classes 4, 5, or 6.
- Retention: Staying in the same class means you don’t get promotion bonuses, but you’ll still earn weekly retention rewards based on your class level. The Class 6 retention reward is the highest, since it’s the top tier.
- Demotion: If your score falls below the required threshold, you will drop to a lower class and get demotion rewards, though they’re less generous.
The endgame goal is to climb to Class 6 and stay there. It takes somewhere around five weeks of consistent play to reach it, but once you do, you should try to maintain your position each week for the best rewards.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby - Haru Urara Build and Stats Guide
Haru Urara is one of the most popular Umamusume characters, and she's a solid late-race runner that can pull off some exciting victories.
How To Build Your Team to Win Team Trial Races in Umamusume Pretty Derby
To win the Team Trials, you need a well-rounded, competitive squad. A stable team with balanced performance across all five races will outscore a team with one dominant racer and several underperformers.
At first, you’ll only have access to five team slots, one for each race category. As you progress into Class 2 and Class 3, you’ll unlock additional slots, giving you more character slots per race type and a full roster of 15 Umamusume.
Unfortunately, you can’t reuse the same Umamusume in multiple slots, even if you trained her in different runs in Umamusume Pretty Derby.
You can't just throw your highest-rated Umamusume into any slot. Each one needs to be specifically trained for their role. An Umamusume should have at least an A rating or higher in their designated race type (distance and surface) to be competitive and perform well in Team Trials. Once that’s done, you can start training them specifically in Career Mode with Team Trials in mind.
Keep in mind that a character’s final rank isn’t everything. An A-rank Umamusume with the right build can easily outperform an S-rank one if trained properly.
Next, choose one race type and one running style (Leader, Runner, Betweener, or Chaser) for each Umamusume. Each of your Umamusume has the potential to become an 'Ace' for their specific race if they perform exceptionally well, granting a score multiplier. Therefore, you should strive to train every Umamusume to have the best stats and highest win potential for their designated race type.
Avoid using the same running style more than once in a single race team. For example, don’t place two Leaders or two Chasers in the same group. When two Umamusume share the same style, they interfere with each other, lowering your overall score.
Stat Recommendations
Stats in Umamusume Pretty Derby play an important role. To stay competitive in Team Trials, try to hit 1,000+ Speed, 600+ Power, and at least 500 Wit. Speed determines your overall pace, while Wit helps your character trigger skills at the right time for a performance edge and reduces chances of mistakes. Power is important for acceleration, navigating the pack, and maintaining speed.
Power indirectly affects Speed gain. For example, if your Uma has 1000 Speed and only 200 Power, she’ll take almost 10 seconds to reach her top speed. That can cost you the lead during critical parts of the race.
If your Uma is losing ground on the final stretch despite good Speed, it’s likely she’s running out of Stamina. Stamina requirements in PvP are a lot higher than in career mode. A rough guide about how much Stamina is required for all race types is:
- Sprint: 500-600
- Mile: 600-700 (with recovery skills)
- Medium: 800-900 (with 1-2 gold recovery skills)
- Long: 900-1100 (with 2-3 gold recovery skills) or S-rank stamina.
Guts is one of the more overlooked stats, but it can be a game-changer, especially during tight races or when stamina is running low. It’s not a bad idea to train Guts to around 400+. Higher Guts gives your Umamusume an edge during Front Runner duels, particularly in the early race when two characters are competing for first place.
Always use Support Cards in Umamusume Pretty Derby that boost the key stats your character needs for her racing style, such as Speed and Wit for Front Runners, or Power and Stamina for Late Surgers. It’s also a good idea to focus on raising bond levels early to unlock powerful rainbow training and better skill hints. Even a few high-probability skills can swing the race in your favor.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Critics Rec: 100%
- Released
- June 26, 2025
- Developer(s)
- Cygames
- Publisher(s)
- Cygames, Kakao Games, BiliBili
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unity
- Genre(s)
- Sports, Management, Gacha
