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.

Expectations were high for Stacelita upon her arrival to the United States, and she more than met them, becoming a finalist for the Eclipse Award for top female turf runner.

Stacelita began her career with six straight wins and was ranked the top 3-year-old filly in France in 2009 after winning three Group 1 races, the Prix de Diane (French Oaks), Prix Saint-Alary, and Prix Vermeille. At age 4, she garnered a fourth Group 1 tally in the Prix Jean Romanet.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There once was an equine pipeline running from Europe to California and pumping a steady stream of stakes-class grass horses into Bobby Frankel’s stable.

Frankel won six Breeders’ Cup races during his Hall of Fame career, two of them in the Filly and Mare Turf, with Starine in 2002 and Intercontinental in 2005. Small wonder Chad Brown had proper training tools at hand when Stacelita joined his string late this summer after spending most of her life in France.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Stacelita, the likely favorite in $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, had an easy first morning at Churchill on Sunday after shipping in Saturday from New York, going through moderate exercise on the main track. And that will be Stacelita’s routine through her start here Friday. Trainer Chad Brown said Stacelita won’t visit the Churchill grass course until she races on it, and that she will only gallop into the race. Stacelita’s last work came Thursday at Belmont, when she went five furlongs in 1:02.96.  

ELMONT, N.Y. – Approximately a half-inch of rain fell over the New York metropolitan area Wednesday night into Thursday morning, forcing New York Racing Association officials to move Thursday’s five turf races at Belmont Park to the main track.

Stacelita, winner of the Beverly D. Stakes in August and Flower Bowl Invitational earlier this month, is the rightful favorite for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4. She may not face the toughest field possible.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Stacelita, a ground-saving winner of the Beverly D. in her second U.S. start, will be a clear favorite in the $500,000 Flower Bowl Invitational Saturday at Belmont Park despite drawing the outside in a field of eight.

The 34th running of Grade 1 Flower Bowl, scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on the inner turf, is the first of six Grade 1 or Grade 2 stakes on “Super Saturday.” The winner earns an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4.

The field for the Flower Bowl ballooned to eight horses but the one to beat remains Stacelita, the Beverly D. winner who drew the outside post for the 1 1/4-mile turf race on Saturday at Belmont Park.

BREEDERS’ CUP CHALLENGE: Racing schedule, replays, and past winners >>

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Stacelita got a perfect trip from just off the pace before going on to victory as the favorite Saturday in the 22nd running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Beverly D. at Arlington Park.

Giving owner Martin Schwartz his third victory in what long has been a crucial race in the filly-mare turf division, Stacelita bided her time and saved ground behind Dubawi Heights and Never Retreat before finding an inside gap and surging to victory.