BackTrack: Life Is Sweet Tastes Victory in La Canada

Marty and Pam Wygod have had several foundation broodmares over the years, with Sweet Life one of the best. Not only has she produced champion Sweet Catomine, by Storm Cat, but her 2005 Storm Cat filly, Life Is Sweet, is developing into a monster herself.

When Life Is Sweet indicated she needed a few months' rest in the middle of last year, Marty Wygod sent her to his River Edge Farm near Buellton, Calif. Bill Mott had been training her in the East, but Wygod thought she might prefer California tracks.

How right he was. Now in trainer John Shirreffs' barn, Life Is Sweet is two for two in California, having won the Jan. 18 El Encino Stakes (G2) and the Feb. 15 La Canada Stakes (G2), the final two-thirds of Santa Anita's La Canada series.

Not wanting to race seven furlongs, Life Is Sweet bypassed the first race of the series, the Dec. 27 La Brea Stakes (G1), leaving it to champion female sprinter Indian Blessing. Around two turns at Santa Anita, though, Life Is Sweet is proving deadly.

She came from far back in the 1 1/16-mile El Encino behind a fast pace. When Bsharpsonata lazed away on the front end of the 1 1/8-mile La Canada in :24.76 and :50.03, Life Is Sweet looked like she had far too much work to do.

"When the 50 came up, I was a little concerned," said Shirreffs.

Jockey Garrett Gomez geared her up with five furlongs to go. Turning for home, Life Is Sweet had only a couple beat and she swung four wide. She had to race even wider as she started her stretch run with four fillies in front of her.

Yards from the wire, Life Is Sweet swept past Magical Fantasy, Bsharpsonata, and Modification, who raced three across the track and finished within a neck and a nose of each other. The Wygod's filly won the $200,000 race by three-quarters of a length in 1:49.70.

"She really showed a great turn of foot, and to be able to overcome that slow pace like she did is amazing," Gomez said. "You can see her stride gets longer as she gets closer to the wire."