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Gintama Writer's Racehorse Wins $5 Million

Akatsuki Yamatoya, one of Gintama's screenwriters, is also an avid horse racing fan. His racehorse, Just A Way, has previously won the Tennō Shō Horse Race and the Arlington Cup. But on March 29, Just A Way pulled off an even more impressive feat.

The Dubai Duty Free Stakes in the United Arab Emirates has one of the highest purses of any horse race in the world: $5 million. In the March 29 race, Tokei Halo was in the lead for the majority of the race, with Just A Way and his jockey, Yūichi Fukunaga, stuck near the back. Yet after the pack of horses rounded a bend, Just A Way surged ahead and opened up a commanding lead — one he carried to the finish line.

An impressive enough accomplishment — but also a coincidental reenactment of an episode of Gintama. In episode 155, Gintoki and Hasegawa gamble on a horse race. Hasegawa's bet is on... Just A Way! And just like in the recent race, Just A Way unexpectedly pulls ahead near the end and crosses the finish line first. There is a major difference, though: in Gintama Just A Way is found to have crossed the boundary and is therefore disqualified.

Yamatoya is the gray-haired figure by the horse.

[Via Hachima Kikou and Dubai Duty Free; Images from Keiba Lab]