Uma profile
Nice Nature
Nice Nature is the kind of girl who seems to shrug before anyone else can judge her first. A Junior Division student in Ritto Dormitory, she carries herself with a dry, sideways sort of honesty: slightly cynical, a little self-deprecating, and very aware of how brightly the other girls around her shine. Rather than rushing to the center of the stage, she tends to watch from a half-step back, admiring that brilliance while keeping some distance of her own. Her catchphrase says it all: “Don’t expect much from her.” Of course, that very reluctance is part of what makes her so memorable.
She introduces herself with an easygoing frankness that feels entirely her own. Nice Nature uses Atashi and even Nature-san for herself, and calls her trainer Anta or Trainer-san—casual, blunt, and unmistakably personal. She says what she thinks, even if she sometimes worries that being so straightforward is not very ladylike. That tension gives her charm real texture: she is not polished into perfection, but human, wry, and disarmingly sincere. If some girls dazzle by charging ahead, Nice Nature stands out by never pretending to be anything she is not.
There is a cozy, homely side to her too. She likes table tennis and has a knack for finding tasty snacks and appetizers, which suits the warm, grounded feel that peeks through her sharper edges. Her family’s snack bar reportedly displays articles about her, a lovely little detail that makes her world feel close-knit. She is also quietly handy in ways that fit her practical streak: she is said to be skilled at using up leftovers in the fridge, and good at origami. Even her more private habits have personality—she secretly grooms her tail late at night, and her ears reflexively react when she hears “Natie” or “Nee-chan.”
Visually, Nice Nature is a compact presence at 157 cm, with a listed weight note of “No change,” three sizes of 79-56-80 cm, and shoe size 22.0 cm. Her voice is provided by Kaori Maeda, whose performance supports that blend of bite, vulnerability, and everyday warmth. She rooms with Marvelous Sunday in Ritto Dormitory, and Marvelous Sunday also appears among the names most closely associated with her, alongside Tokai Teio, Twin Turbo, Ikuno Dictus, Matikanetannhauser, Sounds Of Earth, Royce And Royce, Mayano Top Gun, Mejiro McQueen, Mejiro Ryan, and Kitasan Black.
Her “Bronze Collector” nickname comes from the real-life racehorse Nice Nature, famous for frequent third-place finishes. That history lends the character an extra shade of poignancy: not the untouchable queen of every scene, but someone remembered all the more fondly for her grit, persistence, and slightly bittersweet place in the spotlight. It suits her perfectly. Nice Nature may act like she is standing at an angle to the world—but that angle is exactly what makes her impossible to overlook.
Sources
Touch fallback
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Same races
Same Races
23 shared rivals
Latest: Japan Cup · 1995-11-26
Latest: Tenno Sho (Autumn) · 1993-10-31
Latest: Kyoto Kinen · 1995-02-12
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1993-12-26
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1992-12-27
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1995-12-24
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1995-12-24
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1995-12-24
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1994-12-25
Latest: Tenno Sho (Autumn) · 1994-10-30
Latest: Tenno Sho (Autumn) · 1994-10-30
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1993-12-26
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1995-12-24
Latest: Tenno Sho (Autumn) · 1993-10-31
Latest: Tenno Sho (Autumn) · 1996-10-27
Latest: Sankei Osaka Hai · 1993-04-04
Latest: Tenno Sho (Autumn) · 1996-10-27
Latest: Tenno Sho (Autumn) · 1996-10-27
Latest: Tenno Sho (Autumn) · 1996-10-27
Latest: Lord Derby Challenge Trophy · 1996-04-06
Latest: Mainichi Okan · 1994-10-09
Latest: Tenno Sho (Spring) · 1994-04-24
Latest: Arima Kinen · 1991-12-22
Related Umas
11 total · 11 linked
Rivals
5 total · 5 linked
Stablemates
1 total · 1 linked
Mentioned By Related Umas
6 profiles
Mentioned By Rivals
2 profiles
Mentioned By Stablemates
1 profile
Nice Nature (ナイスネイチャ) was a bay Japanese Thoroughbred of the early-to-mid 1990s, foaled on 16 April 1988 and bred by Watanabe Bokujo. He raced for Toyoshima Taizo and was trained from Ritto by Yoshiharu Matsunaga. A son of Nice Dancer out of Urakawa Miyuki, by Habitony, he came from a family that also produced Grail Stone, Jin Sirius, and Leo Taishin.
Career at a glance
Track record
Featured races
Finished 1st · G3 · at Kokura · over 2000m · Kokura (JP)
Finished 1st · G2 · at Hanshin · over 2500m · Hanshin (JP)
Finished 1st · G2 · at Chukyo · over 2000m · Chukyo (JP)
At a glance
On the track, Nice Nature built a durable and highly productive career, compiling a record of 41 starts for 7 wins, 6 seconds, and 8 thirds. His earnings reached more than ¥619 million in JRA prize money, with Wikipedia listing total earnings at ¥623,585,600. That combination of longevity, consistency, and high-level placing made him one of the notable Japanese middle-distance campaigners of his generation.
His best season came early in his career, when he captured three graded races in 1991: the Kokura Kinen, Kyoto Shimbun Hai, and Naruo Kinen. Those victories established him as a serious presence in the domestic stakes ranks, and he remained competitive long enough to add another major success when he won the Takamatsunomiya Hai (G2) in 1994, the signature win highlighted in the racing record provided by netkeiba.
Nice Nature’s background also carries a small piece of human story. Wikipedia notes that Masao Toyoshima, later connected with his ownership, had made a deposit at Watanabe Ranch before the horse began racing; ownership is also shown there as passing from Masao Toyoshima to Taizo Toyoshima. Through that line of care—from breeder to owners to Matsunaga’s Ritto stable—Nice Nature developed into a tough, familiar stakes horse whose career stretched well beyond a brief peak.
After retirement, he remained a remembered name from Japan’s 1990s turf scene, especially for his quartet of major wins and his substantial body of work at graded level. He died on 30 May 2023, closing the life of a horse whose appeal lay not only in headline victories but in the sustained, hard-earned record he built across many seasons.
More photographs
IRL image archive
6 more images
| Date | Race | Grade | Course | Going | Dist | Pos | Draw | Jockey | Wgt | SP | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-11-16 |
Copa Republica Argentina
|
G2 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 2500 m | 15 | 2 | M.Matsunaga | 56.0 kg | 17.5 | 2:34.0 |
| 1996-10-27 |
Tenno Sho (Autumn)
|
G1 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 10 | 2 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 93.6 | 1:59.7 |
| 1996-05-11 |
Keihan Hai
|
G3 | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 2200 m | 8 | 4 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 10.8 | 2:13.6 |
| 1996-04-06 |
Lord Derby Challenge Trophy
|
G3 | Nakayama (JP) | Good | 1600 m | 6 | 16 | M.Matsunaga | 61.0 kg | 30.3 | 1:33.8 |
| 1996-03-17 |
Chukyo Kinen
|
G3 | Chukyo (JP) | Good to Soft | 2000 m | 4 | 16 | M.Matsunaga | 58.5 kg | 9.8 | 2:02.6 |
| 1995-12-24 | G1 | Nakayama (JP) | Good | 2500 m | 9 | 5 | M.Matsunaga | 56.0 kg | 43.1 | 2:35.4 | |
| 1995-11-26 | G1 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 2400 m | 13 | 15 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 46.9 | 2:26.2 | |
| 1995-10-08 |
Kyoto Daishoten
|
G2 | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 2400 m | 8 | 1 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 13.0 | 2:26.0 |
| 1995-02-12 |
Kyoto Kinen
|
G2 | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 2200 m | 2 | 6 | M.Matsunaga | 59.0 kg | 7.7 | 2:12.0 |
| 1994-12-25 | G1 | Nakayama (JP) | Good | 2500 m | 5 | 9 | M.Matsunaga | 56.0 kg | 46.0 | 2:33.3 | |
| 1994-11-27 |
Japan Cup
|
G1 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 2400 m | 8 | 11 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 23.8 | 2:24.4 |
| 1994-10-30 | G1 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 7 | 5 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 30.4 | 1:59.1 | |
| 1994-10-09 |
Mainichi Okan
|
G2 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 1800 m | 6 | 4 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 4.5 | 1:45.1 |
| 1994-07-10 |
Takamatsunomiya Hai
|
G2 | Chukyo (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 1 | 12 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 8.5 | 2:00.7 |
| 1994-06-12 |
Takarazuka Kinen
|
G1 | Hanshin (JP) | Good | 2200 m | 4 | 2 | M.Matsunaga | 56.0 kg | 12.0 | 2:12.4 |
| 1994-04-24 |
Tenno Sho (Spring)
|
G1 | Hanshin (JP) | Good to Soft | 3200 m | 4 | 4 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 23.3 | 3:23.3 |
| 1994-04-03 |
Sankei Osaka Hai
|
G2 | Hanshin (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 2 | 11 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 4.6 | 2:01.8 |
| 1994-01-23 |
American Jockey Club Cup
|
G2 | Nakayama (JP) | Good | 2200 m | 7 | 7 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 3.9 | 2:14.7 |
| 1993-12-26 | G1 | Nakayama (JP) | Good | 2500 m | 3 | 12 | M.Matsunaga | 56.0 kg | 26.6 | 2:31.6 | |
| 1993-11-28 | G1 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 2400 m | 7 | 11 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 39.2 | 2:25.1 | |
| 1993-10-31 |
Tenno Sho (Autumn)
|
G1 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 15 | 7 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 5.6 | 2:01.5 |
| 1993-10-10 |
Mainichi Okan
|
G2 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 1800 m | 3 | 12 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 7.6 | 1:45.9 |
| 1993-04-04 |
Sankei Osaka Hai
|
G2 | Hanshin (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 2 | 5 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 2.4 | 2:04.1 |
| 1993-03-14 |
Hanshin Daishoten
|
G2 | Hanshin (JP) | Good | 3000 m | 3 | 7 | K.Minai | 58.0 kg | 1.9 | 3:09.4 |
| 1993-01-24 |
Nikkei Shinshun Hai
|
G2 | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 2200 m | 2 | 7 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 2.7 | 2:14.1 |
| 1992-12-27 | G1 | Nakayama (JP) | Good | 2500 m | 3 | 1 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 11.1 | 2:33.7 | |
| 1992-11-22 |
Mile Championship
|
G1 | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 1600 m | 3 | 8 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 6.9 | 1:33.7 |
| 1992-11-01 |
Tenno Sho (Autumn)
|
G1 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 4 | 11 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 3.9 | 1:59.0 |
| 1992-10-11 |
Mainichi Okan
|
G2 | Tokyo (JP) | Good | 1800 m | 3 | 2 | M.Matsunaga | 58.0 kg | 3.4 | 1:45.9 |
| 1991-12-22 | G1 | Nakayama (JP) | Good | 2500 m | 3 | 5 | M.Matsunaga | 55.0 kg | 8.7 | 2:31.1 | |
| 1991-12-08 |
Naruo Kinen
|
G2 | Hanshin (JP) | Good | 2500 m | 1 | 8 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 1.9 | 2:36.3 |
| 1991-11-03 |
Kikuka Sho (Japanese St.Leger)
|
G1 | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 3000 m | 4 | 5 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 5.2 | 3:09.8 |
| 1991-10-13 |
Kyoto Shimbun Hai
|
G2 | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 2200 m | 1 | 11 | M.Matsunaga | 57.0 kg | 3.3 | 2:15.6 |
| 1991-08-25 |
Kokura Kinen
|
G3 | Kokura (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 1 | 7 | M.Matsunaga | 52.0 kg | 2.5 | 2:02.7 |
| 1991-08-10 |
Hazuki Sho
|
Pre-OP | Kokura (JP) | Heavy | 1800 m | 1 | 4 | M.Matsunaga | - | 2.0 | 1:49.6 |
| 1991-07-28 |
Shiranui Tokubetsu
|
Pre-OP | Kokura (JP) | Good | 1800 m | 1 | 2 | M.Matsunaga | 55.0 kg | 1.7 | 1:49.8 |
| 1991-07-06 |
Nadeshiko Sho
|
Pre-OP | Chukyo (JP) | Good to Soft | 1800 m | 2 | 3 | M.Matsunaga | 55.0 kg | 5.6 | 1:50.4 |
| 1991-01-19 |
Wakagoma Stakes
|
OP | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 3 | 7 | M.Matsunaga | 55.0 kg | 18.2 | 2:02.5 |
| 1991-01-05 |
Fukujuso Tokubetsu
|
Pre-OP | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 2000 m | 6 | 2 | M.Matsunaga | 55.0 kg | 6.3 | 2:04.2 |
| 1990-12-15 |
Three-Year-Old Newcomer
|
Maiden | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 1400 m | 1 | 4 | M.Matsunaga | 54.0 kg | 1.7 | 1:26.1 |
| 1990-12-02 |
Three-Year-Old Newcomer
|
Maiden | Kyoto (JP) | Good | 1200 m | 2 | 3 | M.Matsunaga | 54.0 kg | 3.9 | 1:11.9 |
Citations
Race Result Sources
AI Race Import 2026-06-15 13:11 UTC
Imported and enriched race results from supported racing sources.