Exercise rider Steve Willard takes Zenyatta for a run during a workout for the... (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Bring on the boys.
A day after the top female horses took center stage at the Breeders' Cup, leading lady Zenyatta will face her male rivals in Saturday's $5 million Classic. Zenyatta's 13-0 career record is at stake as she also seeks to become the first female horse to win the 1 1/4-mile race.
Life is Sweet didn't mind her stablemate's absence, especially considering the 4-year-old filly had lost three of her previous four races to Zenyatta. Life Is Sweet ended up winning the $2 million Ladies' Classic at 8-1 odds and gave John Shirreffs, who trains both horses for different owners, the tantalizing prospect of taking the weekend's two premier races.
When asked if life is sweet, Shirreffs beamed, "It is, isn't it?"
Shirreffs won last year's Ladies' Classic with Zenyatta, but he said it was time for her to face the boys.
"You know, Zenyatta was at the point in her career where she would have an opportunity to run in the Classic if she trained well up to it, and she trained well up to it," he said.
More than 37,000 people were in attendance for the second consecutive Breeders' Cup to be run on Santa Anita's synthetic Pro-Ride surface. The decision to run on the Southern California track kept stellar filly Rachel Alexandra, who was 8 for 8 this year, away. Her owner Jess Jackson doesn't like synthetics, so he shut down the Horse of the Year favorite.
Life Is Sweet improved to 4 for 5 this year in races Zenyatta wasn't running, with her only loss to males in the Hollywood Gold Cup. She ran 1 1-8 miles in 1:48.58 and paid $18.20, $8 and $5.
Mushka returned $12.80 and $6.40, while Music Note was another length back in third for the second straight year and paid $3.20.
In other races, She Be Wild charged along the rail to win the $2 million Juvenile Fillies by three-quarters of a length.
For co-owners Nancy and Mike Mazzoni the win was particularly special. They raised the 2-year-filly on their 25-acre farm in Kentucky and when the horse didn't sell for $19,000 because of her small stature, they decided to race her. Fortunately, the lack of interest paid off for them.
AP
