ARCADIA, Calif. -- Life got sweeter for Life Is Sweet without her daunting stablemate Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic. After fruitlessly chasing the undefeated mare in three previous races, Life Is Sweet found the winner's circle.

Garrett Gomez guided her from last -- more than 17 lengths behind -- to a 2 1/2-length victory in Friday's $2 million race at Santa Anita. Life Is Sweet was one of four longshots to win on the opening day of the 26th annual world championships.

The 4-year-old filly shares the barn of defending champion Zenyatta, who stayed in her stall resting ahead of today's $5 million Classic against the boys. She will put her 13-0 winning streak on the line in the 1 1/4-mile race, the richest in North America.

Both horses are trained by John Shirreffs for different owners.

Life Is Sweet paid $18.20, $8 and $5 at 8-1 odds.

Man of Iron opened the card with a thrilling nose victory over 9-year-old gelding Cloudy's Knight in the $500,000 Marathon, the day's only race featuring males.

Midday gave Europe its other victory, winning the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf by a length and snapping an 0-for-6 streak in the Breeders' Cup by veteran European trainer Henry Cecil. Midday paid $6.60 to win.

She Be Wild charged along the rail to win the $2 million Juvenile Fillies by three-quarters of a length under Leparoux. She ran 1 1-16 miles in 1:43.80 and paid $16.80 to win.

The $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf was won by Tapitsfly, who paid $21.60 to win.

Informed Decision won the $1 million Filly & Mare Sprint by 1 1/4 lengths over defending champion Ventura. The 4-year-old gray filly paid $8.80 to win.

There are 0 comments - Display All Comments