January 25 - Irish-bred 6-year-old horse, Loup Breton, showed Santa Anita Park racegoers yesterday (Sunday, January 24) what he is made of when he won the $150,000 San Marcos Stakes in fine style, and in so doing chalked up his first stakes win in the U.S. and his second win from three starts.

Owned by Wildenstein Stable, great things were expected from Loup Breton in the United States and so far he has not failed to disappoint. He won his first outing in the country, an allowance in November last year, and then went on to snatch second place in the San Gabriel Handicap (Gr 2) in December.

In yesterday's race, despite starting as the 7/5 favourite, punters at Santa Anita may have been forgiven for thinking the Loup Breton had blown it, despite having champion jockey Garrett Gomez aboard, when with barely a furlong to go he was still stuck behind the race leaders. Or so they thought.

Because like a trap about to be sprung, all Loup Breton needed was a gap and with the finish line looming when he found one he sprang forward, negotiated his way through the gap, past the leaders, and into the front. And there he stayed until he crossed the line first, 1/2 a length clear of High Court Drama.

Said Gomez after the race, 'I couldn't get out of where I was. I could have gone wide, but I would have had to give up a length or two. Loup Breton was like a loaded gun, waiting for somewhere to go.' Equally happy with the result was winning trainer, Julio Canani, who also sent out Dynamic Range.

'I prefer to be three-wide, and I would have had no problem. Loup Breton really is a nice horse,' he said. The victory gave Loup Breton his fifth career win out of 21 starts and returned $3.20. He covered the 1 1/4 mile turf race in a time of 2:00.94. Riviera Cocktail finished third after High Court Drama.