The Valley View, a Grade 3 worth $300,000 to be run Friday at Keeneland, is the poorer sister to the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, a Grade 1, $600,000 contest won by Mawj on Oct. 14. But there is nothing poor about this renewal of the Valley View, which drew an overflow field of talented fillies. Both races are for 3-year-old fillies on turf, the QE II at 1 1/8 miles, the Valley View shortened this year to one mile from its usual 1 1/16 miles. A dozen can start in the Valley View, which leaves four horses on the also-eligible list. Among the 12 assured a slot are horses that last raced in Kentucky, New York, California, Ireland, and Peru. Graham Motion has trained the Valley View winner four times in the last eight years and has two entrants in the field’s main body, Speirling Beag and Sweetlou’sgotaces, both in deep. Speirling Beag, who is cut back three furlongs in distance, moves up if rain comes. She had good soft-ground form last year in Ireland, where she won a Group 3 over nine furlongs. Coming directly from Ireland is Eternal Silence, who has only a maiden win from seven starts but was Group 1-placed last year at age 2 and twice faced top-class filly Tahiyra. Eternal Silence worked Oct. 21 at Keeneland and shipped with her Jessica Harrington-trained stablemate Sounds of Heaven, who ran fifth in the QE II. That was the highest placing among four Harrington-trained North American runners over the last five years. :: Bet Keeneland with confidence! Get DRF PPs, Picks and more. Abundancia raced July 23 in Peru, and horses coming from South America, if they don’t start just after arriving in America, usually need six months or longer to acclimate to the Northern Hemisphere. Regardless of the level of her competition, Abundancia showed her best over considerably longer distances. Heavenly Sunday is going to the front from post 1 and ought to have company from Bling and Secret Money. The latter two have ample talent to rate among the leading contenders but both, while not hapless at one mile, prefer shorter trips and each won a turf-sprint stakes in her most recent start. That leaves Surge Capacity, Sacred Wish, and Pride of the Nile at the heart of the Valley View. Surge Capacity probably will be favored for Klaravich Stables, trainer Chad Brown, and jockey Joel Rosario. Brown, surprisingly, never has won the Valley View and hasn’t had a horse for the race since 2020. In 2019, he finished second and fourth with Blowout and Catch a Bid. Surge Capacity began her career with a front-running maiden route win at Monmouth Park, then got a perfect ground-saving trip posting a mild upset in the Lake George Stakes over one mile at Saratoga. In the 1 1/16-mile Lake Placid there, Surge Capacity had aim at stablemate Aspray in upper stretch but was beaten two lengths. Surge Capacity, by Flintshire, has pulled harder than ideal early in her races and can improve if she relaxes better. Sacred Wish and Pride of the Nile both were competitive in graded dirt stakes earlier this year before moving to turf in their most recent starts. Sacred Wish made her grass debut in the Winter Memories over one mile and turned a perfect pocket trip into a 1 1/4-length victory. She has since kept to a steady Saratoga work pattern for trainer George Weaver, and there’s no reason she can’t run right back to her last outing. At anything close to her 8-1 morning-line odds, Pride of the Nile is the play. She raced at Keeneland in the spring, losing the Grade 1 Ashland on dirt by 40 lengths and going on the shelf until Aug. 23. The filly had won two grass races as a 2-year-old and returned to turf at Del Mar facing older second-level allowance foes. She, too, got an ideal inside trip but made the most of it to win by three-quarters of a length, galloping out strongly and getting a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. The race’s third-place finisher, Gracelund Gray, returned to win at the same level with a 95 Beyer, and Pride of the Nile has gotten in six recent works, three at Keeneland, for trainer Doug O’Neill. Flavien Prat picks up the mount. Myrtlewood Xtreme Diva, an extremely fast Minnesota-bred, can post a mild upset in the $200,000 Myrtlewood, a six-furlong dirt race for 2-year-old fillies that immediately follows the Valley View. Xtreme Diva, trained by Mac Robertson, beat Minnesota-bred maidens by more than 12 lengths in her debut and was both visually impressive and fast on the Beyers, getting an 81, winning the Northern Lights Debutante by nearly eight lengths. Xtreme Diva raced on the lead but had a horse lapped onto her flank down the backstretch and around the turn while still rating kindly. She drew off easily in the homestretch and looks like a candidate to rate off a fast pace Friday. Youalmosthadme, Hot Beach, and Field Lass are the favorites in a nine-runner field. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.