Move over, Mr. Baillargeon. There's a new Mario looking to gain a foothold in horse racing circles.

For the first time Nintendo has included a horse racing component to an upcoming Mario Sports game. Mario Sports Superstars includes soccer, tennis, golf and baseball along with horse racing.

Players have customization options to tweak the colour of bridles and saddles but unlike a normal racing-style competition where a horse is merely the transportation mechanism, Nintendo has included bonus interactivity with the equine athletes in the game so that a horse that's fed better and happier performs better in the races.

Mario Sports Superstars will be released for the popular 3DS handheld gaming system worldwide in March. Europe and Australia will get the first cracks at horse racing in the Mario Sports franchise while North American fans will have to wait a bit longer. The game has a March 10 release date in Europe, Australia one day later. March 24 is the North American release date.