Court Return and jockey Daisuke Fukumoto score first career stakes wins in Eternal Search

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The inner turf expert Court Return notched her first stakes in Saturday’s $100,000 Eternal Search, giving jockey Daisuke Fukumoto his initial stakes win.

Court Return ($10.80) rallied wide from last to wear down Gun Society in deep stretch in the 1 1/16-mile event for Ontario-sired fillies and mares, scoring by 1 1/4 lengths, in a time of 1:43.66. Desdemona, who set leisurely fractions, finished another 4 1/4 lengths back in third, and Royal Wedding checked in fourth in the nine-horse field.

The favored shipper Bramble Queen skidded and fell on the far turn, unseating Luis Contreras. Both horse and rider appeared okay after the incident.

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Court Return broke the 1 1/16-mile inner course record while earning her diploma in a romp early in the meet, and was subsequently scratched from an allowance that was taken off the turf. A half-sister to the Grade 1-winning turf experts Channel Maker and Johnny Bear, trainer Josie Carroll said the daughter of Court Vision dislikes the Tapeta under racing terms.

“She absolutely can’t handle the synthetic, but when she gets on the grass, she floats,” Carroll said. “We looked at a couple of options, and when we didn’t get to run the last time, this looked like a nice spot for her. It was very important, with her pedigree, that she got the opportunity to run in a stakes race, hopefully, successfully. She’s a half to two very accomplished horses.”

Court Vision earned $60,000 for owner-breeder Ivan Dalos.