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Curated by taste and lineage

Read the odds, buy the ticket, choose your runner in the paddock. Then you are the one who races, and cashes in on your own legs.

The store page opens with its own summary: run, bet, win. This is a betting-times-action-racing game that transplants the whole grammar of horse racing onto a race of track girls. Choose your runner in the paddock, read the odds, buy your ticket, and then you are the one who runs; bet on yourself and cash it in with your own legs. Racing plays as arcade action: a dash gauge, skills triggered by orbs on the course, one signature move per race, drafting and photo finishes. The betting system is not simplified. All seven real Japanese horse-racing ticket types are here, win, place, quinella-place, quinella, exacta, trio and trifecta, plus wheel, box and formation combinations, with odds generated per-race so favorites and long shots behave believably. There's a WIN5-style jackpot called Pinzudo 5, correctly calling five straight winners for a carryover payout. Every wager uses in-game currency only; no real money gambling. You gacha-recruit over a hundred track girls (many with odd, horse-inspired names) and grow them with race XP, choosing runners by distance aptitude, running style and skill. Made and self-published under the SHINISE GAMES label by the two-person team behind MFC STUDIO, whose only five Steam listings are all developer-equals-publisher. Priced at ¥1,900, it is Positive at 100 percent across 16 reviews (16 positive, 0 negative), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access. The AI-generated-content disclosure is a single narrow line, 'We use AI for our sounds,' quoted here rather than replaced with boilerplate, and Steam's content descriptors are completely empty. Japanese, English, Traditional Chinese and French are all supported with full voice, so nothing is stopping you. One honest note: every one of its 16 reviews is in Japanese; not one is in English, Chinese, or Korean, and no genuine English-language coverage exists, the only AUTOMATON WEST search hit for this game's name turned out to be an unrelated article matched purely on a keyword.

Published 2026-08-11

01First, the one feeling

02Who this is for (and who it is not)

For you

  • You want Mario Kart's arcade racing vocabulary, items, drafting, a signature move, married to a betting layer that actually has teeth
  • You want a real horse-racing betting system, all seven ticket types plus wheel/box/formation combinations, not a simplified win-or-lose stand-in
  • You want small and self-published: the two-person team behind SHINISE GAMES and MFC STUDIO's only five Steam listings are all developer-equals-publisher, content descriptors completely empty

Not for you

  • You want a settled number; 16 reviews is thin even at a perfect score
  • You want a game already found in the West; every single review is in Japanese, and no genuine English coverage exists yet

03The roots of this taste

100% positiveonly 16 reviews — yet almost no one has found it

Derby Heroines: Run, Bet, Win! Buried gem

The store page opens with its own summary: run, bet, win. This is a betting-times-action-racing game that transplants the whole grammar of horse racing onto a race of track girls. Choose your runner in the paddock, read the odds, buy your ticket, and then you are the one who runs; bet on yourself and cash it in with your own legs. Racing plays as arcade action: a dash gauge, skills triggered by orbs on the course, one signature move per race, drafting and photo finishes. The betting system is not simplified. All seven real Japanese horse-racing ticket types are here, win, place, quinella-place, quinella, exacta, trio and trifecta, plus wheel, box and formation combinations, with odds generated per-race so favorites and long shots behave believably. There's a WIN5-style jackpot called Pinzudo 5, correctly calling five straight winners for a carryover payout. Every wager uses in-game currency only; no real money gambling. You gacha-recruit over a hundred track girls (many with odd, horse-inspired names) and grow them with race XP, choosing runners by distance aptitude, running style and skill. Made and self-published under the SHINISE GAMES label by the two-person team behind MFC STUDIO, whose only five Steam listings are all developer-equals-publisher. Priced at ¥1,900, it is Positive at 100 percent across 16 reviews (16 positive, 0 negative per Steam's own review API), a paid title, not free, fully launched and not in Early Access. The AI-generated-content disclosure is a single narrow line, 'We use AI for our sounds,' quoted here rather than replaced with a boilerplate 'no AI assets' claim, and Steam's content descriptors are completely empty. Japanese, English, Traditional Chinese and French are all supported with full voice, so nothing is stopping you. Every one of its 16 reviews is in Japanese; not one is in English, Chinese, or Korean.

Give it your first pass

Super Mario Kart The origin

The origin of this taste: Super Mario Kart, the Nintendo game that established the arcade racer's vocabulary of items, special moves and drafting, where the track is only half the contest. Derby Heroines is not an official Mario Kart work, but its dash gauge, orb-triggered skills and once-per-race special move carry that same core forward into a race of track girls, with its own addition layered on top: a full, real-world horse-racing betting system determining what you're actually racing for before you ever hit the track.

04Make this gem shine

If it speaks to you, check it on Steam and give it your first pass. Your push is what makes a buried gem shine.

See it on Steam

05The bloodline of this taste