Sam and Happy Times win at Saumur

'I was thrilled with our performance at Saumur. To win any three day event is a great achievement but Saumur is definitely one of the most prestigious on the circuit. Happy Times is an incredibly special horse with a really exciting future ahead. He performed beautifully in the dressage which is always a real confidence boost at the start of the competition. The cross country was a typical French style course with plenty of places to have a silly run out, but right from the outset, Happy Times felt fantastic and took it all in his stride. Time was difficult to achieve but we kept our foot down and although he was getting a little tired at the end he still kept jumping brilliantly. He pulled up really well and looked fantastic later on the Saturday evening. It was a wonderful feeling to be the overnight leader. Happy is usually a very good show jumper but we did not do our best round! However, at the end of the day we did enough to hang on to the top spot and a win's a win! The whole team were ecstatic and I am incredibly pleased for the owners and sponsors who have been such loyal supporters throughout the years. We are all hoping that this might be enough to put us into Olympic contention...'