Bakushin! Bakushin! Bakushin! If you’ve spent any time in the world of Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, those three words probably haunt your dreams or fuel your victories. Sakura Bakushin O is basically the mascot for "fast and simple." She’s the girl who doesn’t care about complex stamina management or whether she should wait for the final stretch to make a move. She just runs. Hard.
New players usually flock to her because she’s the easiest way to clear URA Finals. But honestly? Even veteran players keep her in their back pocket for Team Stadium and Champions Meetings because her raw speed is terrifying. This Uma Musume Sakura Bakushin guide isn’t just about clicking the "Speed" button and hoping for the best, though that works surprisingly often. It's about understanding why she breaks the game's usual rules.
The Strategy That Actually Works
Most characters in this game require a delicate balance. You need enough Power to push through the crowd and enough Stamina to not die at the 1200m mark. Bakushin laughs at that. Because she specializes in Sprints (Short distance), the stamina requirement is hilariously low. You can basically ignore the blue stat for the most part.
When you're building her, your primary focus is Speed. Like, a lot of it. You want that stat bar to be as close to the cap as possible. But here is the thing people mess up: they forget about Intelligence (Wisdom). In Uma Musume, Intelligence dictates how often your skills trigger and how well your girl positions herself during the race. A Bakushin with 1200 Speed but 200 Intelligence is just a fast car with a blind driver. She’ll get stuck behind a wall of slow runners and lose because she didn't have the "brain" to move around them.
Training Focus and Stats
Don't overcomplicate the training. Your deck should be heavily skewed toward Speed and Intelligence cards. I’m talking a 4-2 split or even a 3-3 split if your Intelligence cards are high-tier like Fine Motion or Nice Nature.
Early on, just follow the crowds. If there are four support characters hanging out on the Stamina tile in the first few turns, go there just to build the friendship gauge. But once those rainbow training glows start appearing on the Speed and Intelligence tracks, you stay there. You live there.
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Power is your secondary concern. You’ll naturally get some Power by training Speed, and that’s usually enough for Sprints. However, if you’re trying to build a Bakushin for "Leading" (逃げ - Nige) strategy, you need a little extra kick to ensure she stays at the very front from start to finish. If she loses the lead, her unique skill might not trigger, and then you’re in trouble.
Why Everyone Uses the Nige Strategy
You've probably noticed that her default suggested strategy is "Leader" (先行 - Senkou), but almost everyone switches her to "Runner/Lead" (逃げ - Nige). Why?
It's safer.
In a Short race, there isn't much time to recover from a mistake. If she’s in the Senkou position and gets boxed in by three other girls, the race is over before she can find an opening. By putting her in the Nige position, she starts at the front and stays there. Her unique skill, "Bakushin! Bakushin! Bakushin!", triggers when she's in the lead or very close to it during the latter half of the race. It gives a massive speed boost that effectively ends the competition.
Skills You Actually Need
Don't just buy every skill that pops up. It’s a waste of skill points (PT).
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- Sprint Turbo: This is the gold version of Sprint Straight. It’s expensive but worth it.
- Escape Artist: If you’re running her as a Lead, this helps her break away early.
- Concentration: Essential. Getting a bad start (Late Start) in a 1200m race is a death sentence. You need her out of the gates instantly.
- Short Distance Corner/Straight: These are high-value, low-cost skills that provide consistent boosts.
The "Gale" or "Wind" type skills are also great. Basically, if it says "Short Distance" or "Leading," you want it. Just stay away from anything that mentions "Medium" or "Long" distance. Bakushin trying to run a Long race is a tragedy we don't need to witness.
The Inheritance Headache
Look, we all want that 9-star Speed factor. But for Bakushin, you actually want to look for Power or Intelligence factors from your parents. Since you're going to be hammering the Speed training button anyway, you’ll likely hit the cap on your own. Using inheritance to bolster your Power ensures she has the "acceleration" to hit her top speed faster.
Also, check the distance compatibility. She starts with an A in Short. If you can get enough factors to bump her Mile compatibility to an A, she becomes a dual-threat. This is super helpful for her objectives because she actually has a couple of Mile races forced upon her in the middle of her career. If her Mile rank is C, she might lose those and tank your fans/motivation.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
The biggest trap is the Summer Camp. People think, "Oh, I need Stamina," and spend the four turns of boosted training on the blue tile. Don't. Use the Summer Camp to fix whatever your lowest vital stat is between Power and Intelligence, or just double down on Speed if the training level is high.
Another mistake? Ignoring her mood. Bakushin is a high-energy character, and her events often give you choices that can either boost her mood or give you a "clogged nose" status effect if you're unlucky. Keep her at "Perfect" (Extremely Glad) mood as much as possible. The 20% bonus to training gains is non-negotiable if you're aiming for an S-rank or higher.
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And please, stop taking her to races she isn't meant for. I know it’s funny to try and make her win the Arima Kinen, but unless you have a very specific "Long Distance" inheritance build that takes months to prep, she will finish in last place. Every time. Stick to what she’s good at: 1200m to 1400m of pure, unadulterated velocity.
Practical Next Steps for Your Training
If you're ready to jump back in and build a better version of everyone's favorite class president, start with these three moves:
Check your support library and filter specifically for Intelligence cards that provide "Hint Level" bonuses for Short distance skills. Cards like SSR Mihono Bourbon (the Intelligence version) are god-tier for this because they give you the "Groundwork" skill which is vital for Lead runners.
Audit your inheritance parents. Stop just picking the ones with the highest total stats. Look for specific blue factors in Power and red factors in Mile. This will smooth out her mid-career races and give her the physical strength to hold the lead against tougher opponents in the final stretch.
Focus your training rounds on tripling down on Speed and Wisdom. During your next run, try to ignore the Stamina and Guts buttons entirely unless there is a huge crowd of 4+ people there. You'll find that a Bakushin with 1100 Speed and 800 Intelligence performs significantly better in PvP than one with 800 Speed and 500 across the board.
Bakushin isn't a complex puzzle to solve. She's a blunt instrument. If you sharpen the right end—the Speed end—she will carry you through almost any Short distance content the game throws at you.