Keeneland: Valley View Stakes could give Weaver happy homecoming

LEXINGTON, Ky. – George Weaver returns to his old Kentucky home every once in a while, invariably for a horse race or horse sale. His parents still live in Louisville, from where he graduated high school in 1988, so it’s a business-with-pleasure kind of deal when he travels here from New York or Florida.

This time, Weaver is bringing his 11-year-old son, Ben, to see his dad’s horse run and for a visit with the grandparents, and Weaver is hoping the family fun will be heightened by a big performance at Keeneland on Friday from Summer of Fun, the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Grade 3 Pin Oak Valley View Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Summer of Fun was scratched from the $200,000 Pebbles Stakes on Monday at Belmont Park in favor of the $150,000 Valley View Stakes. Owned by Bona Venture Stables, the Kentucky-bred daughter of Include comes into the 1 1/16-mile turf race in good form, with two wins from her last four starts and a respectable fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Garden City in her most recent race.

“The pot’s not quite as good, but it is a graded race, and that’s a big perk,” Weaver said, explaining the decision to run in the Valley View instead of the Pebbles. “The Pebbles was kind of tempting because we wouldn’t have had to ship, but even though this filly is Grade 1-placed, she still doesn’t have a graded win, and that was probably the deciding factor in running at Keeneland.”

Summer of Fun, who finished third last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, will have Joe Rocco Jr. aboard when she breaks from post 3.

Weaver also was scheduled to run Comes the Dream in an allowance here Thursday and Lighthouse Bay in the Grade 2 Raven Run on Saturday.

“We’re looking forward to a few good days,” he said.

The Valley View Stakes drew a sizable number of capable fillies, including Nellie Cashman (post 1, Forest Boyce to ride), winner of the Grade 3 Virginia Oaks and the first-place finisher in the Grade 2 Lake Placid at Saratoga before being disqualified for stretch interference; Yuzuru (post 5, Angel Serpa), winner of an ungraded Delaware Park turf stakes last month for Michael Matz; Frivolous (post 6, Jon Court), who came to hand in three Arlington Park races this summer; Overheard (post 8, Eurico Rosa Da Silva), a Canadian shipper with considerable stakes experience; and Sustained (post 10, Junior Alvarado), never worse than third in seven career starts, all for Dale Romans.

Seventeen fillies were entered in the Valley View, with 14 making the program and 12 allowed to start. Hedonemewrongsong and Sense to Compete are the two also-eligibles.

The 23rd Valley View Stakes goes as the ninth of 10 races on a Friday card that starts at 1:05 p.m. Eastern.