You’re staring at that sparkling jewel count. It’s low. It’s always low, isn't it? If you’ve been playing Umamusume: Pretty Derby for more than five minutes, you know that Jewels—often called "Carats" by players who equate them to premium currency in other Cygames titles—are the lifeblood of your stable. You need them for the gacha. You need them for those high-tier Support Cards that make or break a build. Without them, you’re just watching your horse girls struggle through the URA Finals with mediocre stats and even worse skills.
Getting more carats in Umamusume isn't just about luck. It’s about a relentless, almost obsessive commitment to the daily grind.
Honestly, the game is surprisingly generous if you know where to look, but it’s also very good at hiding its best rewards behind menus you probably haven’t clicked on in weeks. Forget about just "playing the game." You need a strategy. You need to understand the rhythm of the banners and the specific triggers that dump currency into your lap.
The Training Mode Goldmine
Training is the core of the game. You know this. But are you training for stats, or are you training for carats? Every time you complete a training scenario with a new Umamusume, you’re basically tapping a fresh vein of currency.
First-time completions are huge. When you take a girl through the URA Finals, Aoharu Cup, or the Make a New Track scenario for the first time, the game hands out Jewels like candy. But it goes deeper. Each Umamusume has her own set of "Legend" missions and story chapters. Watching these stories isn't just for the lore—though seeing Gold Ship be a chaotic menace is its own reward—it’s a direct pipeline to Jewels.
Most players forget the "Trophy Gallery." It’s tucked away, but it’s vital. Winning a G1 race for the first time with any character nets you Jewels. If you haven’t cleared the entire racing calendar across your roster, you are literally leaving money on the table. Think about those obscure dirt races or the short-distance sprints you usually ignore because you’re obsessed with the Arima Kinen. Go back. Win them. Collect the paychecks.
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Why Your Daily Routine is Killing Your Gains
Consistency is boring. It’s also the only way to stay competitive without opening your wallet.
The daily missions are a pittance individually, but they add up to thousands of carats over a month. Ten jewels here, twenty there. It feels like nothing until you realize that missing three days is the difference between a multi-pull and sadness.
Then there’s the Limited Missions. Cygames loves an event. Whether it’s a seasonal festival or a collaboration, these missions are usually time-gated and incredibly lucrative. If you aren't clearing the event shop and hitting the point milestones, you’re falling behind the curve. The "Story Events" specifically offer a massive influx of jewels through both mission rewards and the "Roulette" mechanic.
Team Stadium: The Weekly Salary
If you want a steady income, you have to care about the Team Stadium. This is your weekly salary. Depending on your class rank (Class 1 through Class 6), you get a weekly payout of Jewels.
Staying in Class 6 is the dream. It’s also a nightmare of optimization.
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To climb the ranks, you don't just need to win; you need to score points. This means teaching your horse girls "score-boosting" skills—those flashy gold skills that trigger during the race. Even if a skill isn't "meta" for winning, if it triggers reliably, it helps your score. High scores mean higher rankings, and higher rankings mean more carats every Monday morning.
Don't neglect your bench. A balanced team across Short, Mile, Medium, Long, and Dirt distances is mandatory. If one of your segments is weak, your total score will tank, and you’ll find yourself demoted to Class 5, losing out on that sweet, sweet premium currency.
The Hidden Stash: Missions and Titles
Have you checked your "Titles" lately? Probably not.
Titles are often seen as vanity items, but many of them come with Jewel rewards upon completion. Some are easy, like winning a specific number of races. Others are grueling, requiring you to win specific G1 races with specific characters under certain conditions.
Also, the "Main Missions" list is a graveyard of unclaimed rewards for many players. Levelling up your Trainer Rank is a big one. Every time your rank ticks up, you get a chunk of Jewels. You increase this rank by simply spending TP (Training Points) and RP (Race Points). Basically, if your stamina bars are full, you are losing money.
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Story Content is More Than Just Fluff
The Main Story acts like a traditional RPG campaign. Each episode you watch or race you win within the Main Story mode grants Jewels. They occasionally add new chapters, and these are essentially "Jewel Drops" disguised as content updates.
- Watch the character stories. Even if you skip the dialogue (though you shouldn't, the writing is great), you still get the rewards.
- Clear the Main Story races. Some of these are surprisingly tough and require a specific build, but the payout is worth the effort.
- Check for "Campaign" bonuses. During anniversaries or half-anniversaries, Cygames often resets first-clear rewards or adds login bonuses that dwarf the regular daily amounts.
The Art of the Skip
Knowing when not to spend carats is just as important as knowing how to get them. The gacha in Umamusume is brutal. The 0.7% rate for a specific UP character is not your friend.
If you want to maximize your carats, you have to save for the "Spark" (200 pulls). Pulling aimlessly on every banner is the fastest way to end up with a bunch of 2-star duplicates and zero Jewels for the actual game-changing Support Cards like Kitasan Black or the latest "Group" cards.
Real experts wait for the "Selection Banners" or the "72-hour" beginner banners if they are starting fresh. They look at the tier lists from the JP (Japanese) version—which is roughly two years ahead of the Global/English release—to see which cards have longevity. If a card isn't "God Tier" for the next six months of the meta, keep your carats in your pocket.
Actionable Steps for Maximum Carat Accumulation
Stop wasting your resources and start hoarding. If you're serious about getting more carats in Umamusume, follow this hierarchy of operations:
- Drain the Trophies: Go to your Trophy Gallery. See which G1, G2, and G3 races you haven't won yet. Take a versatile runner like Oguri Cap or Mayano Top Gun and hunt down those missing trophies in Training Mode.
- Max the Event Points: Every Story Event has a reward ladder. Do not stop until you hit the final Jewel reward. Use your boost items; that's what they're for.
- Optimize Team Stadium: Re-train your oldest Team Stadium characters using the newest scenarios. The stat inflation in newer scenarios (like Grand Masters or Project L'Arc) makes it easy to outscore your old builds, securing a higher weekly Class payout.
- Character Level-Ups: Use your "Manifestation" pieces to star-up your 1-star and 2-star girls. Increasing their rarity unlocks new story chapters, which—you guessed it—gives you more carats.
- Circle Rewards: Join a high-activity Circle. Monthly rankings for Circles provide a significant Jewel bonus based on the total fans earned by all members. If your Circle is dead, leave it. Find one that requires a daily fan contribution.
Carats are a finite resource for the F2P player, but they are renewable if you're disciplined. Treat the game like a marathon, not a sprint. The players with the most carats aren't the ones who get lucky; they're the ones who never let their TP bar stay at 100/100.