Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Road to the Top (ONA)

The series is based on the real-life rivalry between Narita Top Road (1996-2005), Admire Vega (1996-2004), and T.M. Opera O (1996-2018) during the 1999 JRA season.

Admire Vega's visions of a ghost sister is based on the life of the real horse, whose mother Vega carried twins, but one of them was forcibly aborted, as twin horses were deemed to perform poorly in horse racing.

Narita Top Road's racing costume is primarily colored pink after the racing silk worn by the jockeys that raced with the real horse.

Admire Vega's racing costume is colored dark blue and light blue after the racing silk worn by the jockeys that raced with the real horse. The eight buttons on the front signify the real horse's eight races in his short career.

The real T.M. Opera O's name has three origins: "T.M." were the initials of his owner Takezono Masatsugu, "Opera" was from his sire (father) Opera House, and "O" (王) is Japanese for "King".

There is a hidden connection between T.M. Opera O and Oguri Cap that explains their interaction in the ONA series. In real life, Oguri Cap was prohibited from competing in the JRA's Classic races such as the Satsuki Shō, Tōkyō Yūshun (Japanese Derby), and Kikuka-shō after his owners failed to submit his registration before the due date. Due to the public outcry over Oguri Cap's absence in the Classic races, the JRA revised the rules in 1992 (one year after Oguri Cap retired) to allow late registrants to run the Classic races for a heavy fee. T.M. Opera O became the first racehorse to benefit from this rule revision in 1999.