International Challenge A Dream Come True For Haralambus

22 February 2023 - Greece is not exactly the strongest racing jurisdiction in the world, but the country will throw down its best possible challenge for Friday’s Saudi International Handicap presented by Al Rajhi Bank.

Harry Haralambus, the trainer of Baldwin, explains that it was quite a trip for his seven-year-old, who began his career with Kevin Ryan in England and was a wide-margin winner on his latest start in the 1400m Listed Winter Challenge on December 27 at Markopoulou in Athens.

Trying 2100m on turf in the $500,000 invitational event for a wide-ranging number of overseas contenders is a very different challenge.

"We only have all-weather in Athens but hopefully he’ll be okay as he ran on it a lot of times in England and the ground looks quite fast." said Haralambus.

"He’s a top sprinter in Greece, he's broken all the track records, from five furlongs [1000m] to seven [1400m]. We asked if they could make this race over six furlongs but they couldn’t do it! This is another 600m. I don’t know how he’ll cope with that but we're happy, we’re living the dream. It’s an experience for us, for the horse, so why not? You never know."

Christos Stavrou's Run To The Hills represented Greece in the same race 12 months ago, finishing three lengths behind the winner as a commendable fifth, so their runners should not be underestimated.

"They invited us because we’re the second-top rated horse in Greece, the top one Revamp is the other Greek horse that’s running here," Haralambus said.

"It was a long trip for us, we left Athens, by ship to Italy, Germany, Liege and it was five days to Saturday night, so it’s difficult for the horse but we came to join in and he’s growing and maturing.

"We are excited. We raced once in Dubai in 1997 with a Greek-bred horse called Balal. He raced well enough in his first race there but it was difficult on the big day. I've been training for 21 years, we finished as top trainer and the owners won all the big races last year, so it was a great year for us. Now this is the icing on the cake. There’s always a chance, the hope never dies!"

***ENDS***


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