Saratoga: Motion eyes Hirsch with Sanagas

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Following Sanagas’s 2 1/4-length victory in Friday’s $81,000 John’s Call Stakes, trainer Graham Motion said the German-bred gelding earned a shot in a graded stakes.

On Saturday, Motion said that race would be the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park on Oct. 1.

“It’s the time of year you got to find out what you got,” Motion said.

Motion said the eight weeks between races would benefit Sanagas because “there’s not much of him.”

Sanagas won the John’s Call despite drifting out significantly in the stretch under Rajiv Maragh. He ran 1 5/8 miles in 2:41.45 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 94.

Bearpath 50-50 to survive

Bearpath, who raced in the John’s Call, suffered a broken shoulder during the running of the race and is 50-50 to survive, according to trainer Ian Wilkes.

Bearpath sprung a shoe when he clipped heels with a horse in front of him and fell while unseating jockey Frederic Lenclud in the early stages of the race. Bearpath got up and actually trotted through the stretch on basically three legs as he wouldn’t put his left foot on the ground. He was corralled by an outrider and placed in an equine ambulance and transported back to Wilkes’s barn.

An ultrasound performed Saturday morning confirmed that Bearpath fractured the base of his humerus, Wilkes said. The problem is if Bearpath is unable to bear weight on his left leg, then that might cause problems with his right leg.

“Basically, it’s 50-50 he’ll survive or not,” Wilkes said. “Everything has got to go right. I want him to survive, but I don’t want the horse to suffer.”

Bearpath, a 6-year-old son of Dynaformer, won 4 races from 25 starts and banked $380,969 in his career. His biggest win came in the Grade 3 Pan American Handicap at Gulfstream in 2010.