Sir Gallovic faces tough shippers

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Sir Gallovic will get the acid test when he faces a very tough field of 3-year-olds in the $250,000 British Columbia Breeders' Cup Derby at Hastings on Sunday. All 10 horses will carry 126 pounds in the 1 1/8-mile feature.

Sir Gallovic burst on the local scene with an easy win over Long Journey in an allowance race Aug. 5, then followed up with a seven-length romp in the Richmond Derby Trial on Sept. 2. He figures to be a lukewarm favorite over Southern California shipper Celtic Dreamin and the best 3-year-old in Alberta, Footprint.

Sir Gallovic, who is trained by Troy Taylor, won a $60,000 maiden race at Belmont prior to his two dominating wins at Hastings. Considering that Taylor rarely says much about his horses, his comments about Sir Gallovic indicate he must be coming into the derby in excellent shape.

"He's doing pretty good right now," said Taylor. "This is obviously a much tougher spot, but he's a pretty nice horse and I don't think he'll have any trouble getting a mile and an eighth."

Mario Gutierrez rides Sir Gallovic.

Celtic Dreamin is a nose away from being undefeated, and the horse that beat him, Latin Rhythms, is a nice one. In his latest start, Latin Rhythms won a division of the El Cajon Stakes at Del Mar.

Trained by Rafael Becerra, Celtic Dreamin is coming off of a win in a 1 1/16-mile entry-level allowance race at Del Mar on Aug. 22. Celtic Dreamin is versatile, and it appears he'll run over any kind of surface - he has won on dirt, Cushion Track, and Polytrack.

Gerry Olguin will fly in from Woodbine to ride Celtic Dreamin.

Footprint has won three stakes races in a row at Northlands Park, including the Grade 3 Canadian Derby on Aug. 25.

Gandolf is still a maiden, but he's coming off two very good races. He lost by a head in a 1 1/8-mile maiden special weight race on turf at Del Mar on July 29, and in his latest start finished a close second to Footprint in the Canadian Derby.

Amazin Blue, the Alberta Derby winner, and Jamaica Bound, the runner-up in the Emerald Downs Derby, have also been entered.

o The card's supporting feature, the $50,000 Sir Winston Churchill, also attracted a strong field that includes 2006 Sovereign Award winner True Metropolitan. Trained by Terry Jordan, True Metropolitan won the Speed to Spare at Northlands Park by 10 lengths Sept. 8. He's been assigned 127 pounds for the Churchill.