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 the $2 million race yesterday at Santa Anita.

Life Is Sweet was one of four long shots to win on the opening day of the 26th annual world championships.

"It was exhilarating," co-owner Marty Wygod said.

Life is Sweet, a 4-year-old filly, shares the barn of defending champion Zenyatta, who stayed in her stall resting ahead of the $5 million Classic today 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.

"I was glad she was able to get it done," Shirreffs said. "She really deserves this. She had been coming into this race really great."

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Day One @ Santa Anita

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Life Is Sweet ran 11/8 miles in 1:48.58 and paid $18.20, $8 and $5 at 8-1 odds.

Mushka returned $12.80 and $6.40, while Music Note was another length back in third for the second year in a row and paid $3.20 to show.

Careless Jewel, the 9-5 wagering favorite, romped to an early nine-length lead before fading to last in the field of eight. Cocoa Beach, second last year, was sixth.

"She locked onto the bridle and went as far as she could as fast as she could. That's not her," said Robert Landry, who rode Careless Jewel.

"It's disappointing because she's a much better filly than she showed."

American horses won four of the day's six races, with jockey Julien Leparoux riding two winners on a day that went off without incident to horses or riders.

It was the second consecutive Breeders' Cup to be run on Santa Anita's synthetic Pro-Ride surface, which kept stellar filly Rachel Alexandra away.

She was 8 for 8 this year, including three wins over male horses, one of them in the Preakness. But her owner Jess Jackson doesn't like synthetics, so he shut down the Horse of the Year favorite.

Life Is Sweet had lost to Zenyatta in three of her previous four races. She improved to 4 for 5 this year in races where Zenyatta wasn't running, with her only loss to males in the Hollywood Gold Cup.

"If you have to be overshadowed by something, that is the right mare to be overshadowed by," Wygod said. "She's a great, great mare."

Life Is Sweet went from last midway through the final turn to the front with a run on the far outside.

She overcame getting pinched out of the starting gate.

"I'm glad she picked [yesterday] to show up," Gomez said. "When you run some tough races like she did, it will take something out of you. I'm glad they were able to get her confidence back and have her prepared."

It was the sixth win in 15 career starts -- and fourth on a synthetic track -- for the filly, whose training was disrupted by severe muscle cramping in July and August.

"I knew Life Is Sweet was going to really put in a tremendous run. I told that to Garrett before he got up on her," Marty Wygod said.

"When I saw those fractions, I realized we had a good shot. She did it easily. She really did."

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