Yoshida of Shadai Farm buys the mares Stacelita, Sarafina

Teruya Yoshida, the Shadai Farm owner whose brother recently bought $1.4 million Keeneland January sale-topper Topliner, has privately purchased two outstanding turf mares: Stacelita and Sarafina.

Yoshida bought Stacelita, a finalist for the turf mare championship, from Martin Schwartz after her 10th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf; he plans to send her to Smart Strike this year, according to Dell Ridge Farm, the Lexington, Ky., farm where Stacelita, a French champion, currently boards.

Stacelita, a 6-year-old Monsun mare, won six Group 1 or Grade 1 races in her career, most notably the Prix de Diane in France in 2009 and last year’s Beverly D. at Arlington Park. She earned more than $2.3 million with wins in 10 of 18 starts. Stacelita’s dam is the Dashing Blade mare Soignee. That Group 3-placed stakes winner also is the dam of French winners Sandy Girl and Suertez.

The Racing Post also reported Friday that Yoshida has bought triple Group 1 winner Sarafina privately for a price that neither side would disclose.

Yoshida plans to breed the 5-year-old Refuse to Bend mare to Japan’s 2005 and 2006 Horse of the Year Deep Impact. He’s already sired one champion (juvenile filly Joie de Vivre, out of the Caerleon mare Biwa Heidi), two other Japanese Grade 1 winners, and three Japanese Grade 1-placed runners, from his first two racing-age crops.

Like Stacelita, Sarafina is a Prix de Diane winner, having won the race in 2010. She was winless in her only U.S. start when fourth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf, but otherwise has a stellar record of 6 wins in 11 starts, including her three Group 1 scores, a pair of Group 2 victories, and three Group 1 placings in France. In 2010, she was third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Sarafina has earned more than $2.2 million.

Sarafina is a daughter of the Darshaan mare Sanariya, also the dam of Group 1-placed stakes-winner Sanaya, group-placed Sanjida, and 2011 stakes winner Sandagiyr.

The Aga Khan bred and raced Sarafina but “received an offer he could not turn down,” according to the Racing Post story.