Fans of the hugely popular Japanese gaming franchise Umamasume have helped raise more than £500,000 to support an ex-racehorse who inspired one of its key characters. Umamasume: Pretty Derby is a simulated game featuring anthropomorphized female horses who players raise and train to compete in races. It has become a multi-billion dollar global franchise.

Many of the characters are named after actual racehorses including Meisho Doto, who won once at Group 1 level and finished second in another five behind rival T M Opera O, retiring in 2002. Meisho Doto joined the Umamasume game as a clumsy character with low self-esteem for whom things never seem to go right.

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Meanwhile the real Meisho Doto, now 29 years old, is one of five horses being cared for at Northern Lake Farm, in Niikappu Town, Hokkaido, where the facilities have fallen into a dilapidated state.

The owners launched a crowdfunding campaign to help raise the money needed to rebuild the complex

“We want to run the ranch on our own, relying as little as possible on donations, and have tried to make ends meet as much as possible through our own ingenuity and hard work, and to protect the lives of the horses,” said Yoshie Sasaki.

“However, maintaining the vast grounds and facilities, not to mention the cost of raising the horses, is extremely expensive.

“Building a new stable would be an even larger expense than the major construction and purchases we had made up to that point, so we were hesitant, even though we knew the stables were aging .

“In addition to that, a mountain of necessary maintenance work is piling up, including repairing fences in pastures and paddocks, installing security cameras, and demolishing unused warehouses and crumbling sheds. As for the stables, we understand that we cannot afford to hesitate, and that we must hurry to build new ones in order to ensure the safety of the horses.

“We have been doing everything we can to cut costs ourselves and have had construction carried out using our own funds, including donations, but there are limits to what we can do. That is why we have decided to ask for a little help from everyone who supports Northern Lake in the form of crowdfunding.”

Northern Lake said the response had been “unbelievable”. “To be honest, I'm more surprised than anything. Thank you all so much.”