Stopping Motion Path Animation With Click & Drag

I have a drag & drop exercise where 4 drop objects are moving in perpetual motion paths.  The user needs to "catch" one of the moving objects and drop onto the drop target.

On desktop, you can mostly see the object being dragged to the target, with some flashes of it trying to resume it's motion path.  On the iPad, the motion path remains uninterrupted, but the system is conscious that you are dragging your finger and the drop can still be completed.

I couldn't find any triggers for this: is there any way to stop the animation the moment you start to click and drag an object?  I know you can trigger an alternate motion path with the click (tried a short straight line), but it didn't work very well.