Mended’s winning streak ended at 10 in the Grade 2, $200,000 La Cañada Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, but it wasn’t because she didn’t run a winning race.

Facing by far her toughest competition in her first stakes appearance, the Golden Gate Fields-based Mended led for all but the final yards of the 1-mile race and finished second in the middle of a three-horse blanket.

Mopotism, the 12-to-5 second choice in the field of eight fillies and mares, challenged Mended from the outside throughout the stretch and prevailed by a short head. La Force, who made an inside rally, finished another head behind Mended in third. Majestic Heat, the 6-5 favorite, finished fifth.

“What a tough beat, huh?” trainer John F. Martin said by phone an hour after the race. “I’m still pouting. We were trying to cheer her home, and she almost did it. I can’t expect any more because it was a tougher group that she faced out there.”

Mended’s streak began after trainer Martin claimed her for $12,500 for owners Troy and Maritza Onorato on Jan. 6, 2016.

She won five claiming events from $12,500 to $62,500, two allowances, two starter allowances and the $110,000 Claiming Crown Glass Slipper. The 5-year-old mare earned $40,000 Saturday to increase her total to $225,900 since the claim.

“I knew she got beat, but it was really close,” Martin said. “Shipping takes its toll, and there were a lot of things that I can think of in my mind that cost her an inch or two. But she came back well and we’re going to give her a little bit of a break. We know what kind of horse we’ve got.”

Mended’s winning streak tied Lost in the Fog for the second-longest by a Bay Area thoroughbred after Hap Logue’s 11 straight victories in 1973.

Briefly: Instilled Regard ($6.60) put himself firmly on the Kentucky Derby trail with a victory by 3¾ lengths in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer and ridden by Javier Castellano, Instilled Regard surged to the lead in early stretch and easily outfinished 6-5 favorite and previously undefeated Principe Guilherme. … A few minutes later, Hollendorfer finished 1-2 with Dreamarcher and Eccentric Spinster in the $34,017 allowance feature at Golden Gate Fields.

Larry Stumes is a freelance writer.