Well the character are based in real horses, and its stories, so yes, most of the events that were shown in the anime happened in real life, also the school part is not important, even the idol part is not as important either, because its only shown halfway or not at all in the most of times. btw what names would you prefer??, if you say don't want another Tanaka or Yamamoto, or whatever?... John?, Jane, Smith?... talk about gringo cliches... And the best one is Silence Suzuka!!!!, and yeah the pink haired horse girl never win a race in all her time, except one, it was invitational of retired horses around 2001, i think... and the 13 episode was just a fan service one, not based in real life events like the previous ones, it was just to push sales and to keep the fans happy. none race in all the history of horse racing has ever had an all horses hit the goal same time...