Life Is Sweet wins Santa Anita feature
Life Is Sweet rallied from next-to-last to win the $150,000 El Encino Stakes for 4-year-old fillies by 2 1/2 lengths Sunday at Santa Anita.
Ridden by Garrett Gomez, Life Is Sweet covered 1 1-16 miles in a stakes record 1:41.30 and paid $9.40, $4.40 and $3.20. Country Star returned $3.20 and $2.60 as the 6-5 wagering favorite, while Miss Singhsix was another three lengths back and paid $3.20 to show.
It was Life Is Sweets first stakes victory and first under John Shirreffs, who took over training from Bill Mott when the filly moved to the West Coast.
By the eighth pole, she had inhaled the whole field, and she stayed on her left lead, so shes still learning, Gomez said. Its nice to know theres more left in the tank.
The victory, worth $90,000, increased Life Is Sweets career earnings to $240,810, with two wins in seven starts. She had not raced since last May.
