Sanagas lands John’s Call Stakes for trainer Graham Motion at Saratoga
The 5-year-old gelding trained by Graham Motion for owner Andreas Jacobs, Sanagas, went on to defeat his competition in the $81,000 John’s Call Stakes at Saratoga.
It was intriguing battle for the title, as the horses went back and forth displaying serious speed on the Saratoga main track.
Sanagas provided the crowd with an interesting high pace race, with his desire to jump clear of the rail and go on the outside, the bay horse really pushed on from where his jockey Rajiv Maragh wanted him to.
The son of Lomitas, out of Scota by Marju, the German bred, Sanagas, got on the outside rail and pushed like he had never pushed before, and assumed the lead.
He went on to win the race by 2 ¼ lengths over his rival Centre Drive, who also ran an amazing race when he nailed Bold Hawk at closing moments to jump into second.
Bred by the German http://www.horseracingnation.com/org/Stiftung_Gestut_Fahrhof, Sanagas, had an amazing time running in the German circuits as he who 4 of his 5 starts there. Here at the United States the 5-year-old has gone on to bag his first win in his second start which makes him a total of five victories
from seven starts.
Prior to the Saratoga meet, Sanagas was entered in the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap on turf, over at a distance of 1 ¼ miles at Arlington Park under jockey Rajiv Maragh. The son of Lomitas got beat by a massive 3 ¼ lengths and finished a disappointing seventh
in the Grade 3 race.
The horse was trying to lug in badly during the race, that’s what the jockey Rajiv Maragh told trainer Graham Motion and to solve the problem Motion put extension blinkers on Sanagas to keep him from lugging in the race.
He seemed to be a tough horse to ride as he kept drifting to the outside when Maragh was guiding the horse to an outside path from home.
The pair lagged behind when the broke from the gates but made up lost ground in good time as they powerfully surged past opponents to win it easily in the end, despite of the late run.
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