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Posted by Equestrian Australia on 05/09/2015.
Sam Griffiths and Happy Times
Nixon Photo

Happy Times for Griffiths after dressage best at Burghley

A personal best dressage score has Olympian Sam Griffiths placed third after the dressage phase of the 2015 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials.

Griffiths and his London Olympic mount Happy Times received a score of 36.8 which is a career best for ‘Happy’. The pair is 2.6 penalties off pacesetters Michael Jung (FisherRocana FST) and William Fox-Pitt (Fernhill Pimms) who share the lead with 34.2 penalties.

In moving into third position Griffiths nudged his compatriot Andrew Hoy into fourth place and there is just one penalty between the two.

Ahead of Saturday’s cross country Griffiths has the security of knowing he is on one of the most experienced horses in the field. 16 year old Happy has twice finished third at Burghley (2014 & 2009) and has represented Australia at the Olympics and World Equestrian Games.   

“He’s always very consistent on the flat, but he really pulled out the stops today,” said Griffiths, who is also equal 14th on his 2014 Badminton winner Paulank Brockagh.

“Both horses have done personal bests in the dressage phase, but tomorrow is another day.

“(The course) is pretty daunting. It’s a big course but they’re experienced horses and hopefully they can go well. I always feel the cross country at Burghley is the toughest in the world. The terrain, the size of the fences and the intensity really make it the ultimate test.” Listen to Sam’s full interview  

Having yesterday produced a personal best score with Haruzac, Chris Burton was hoping for another strong performance from his second entry TS Jamaimo - they scored 45 penalties which has them placed equal 19th. Burton quickly turned his attention to cross country which has to date eluded the accomplished rider.  

“I’ve had a terrible record at Burghley,” said Burton.

“I’ll be aiming this year to see the finish flags. It would be my first time through the finish flags at Burghley Horse Trials.

“It’s very relentless so we just have to ride well and do our best,” Listen to Chris’ full interview

Paul Tapner also took to the arena for a second occasion, this time riding his World Equestrian Games (WEG) horse Kilronan and the pair received a score of 41.7 for equal 12th position. His second entry Vanir Kamira now sits in 14th position with 42.5 penalties.

Of the rest of the Australians WEG rider Bill Levett and his horse Improvise crept into the top 20 receiving a score of 44.9.

“Womble (Improvise) tried very hard today, a couple of costly mistakes but lots of positives,” said Levett on Twitter.

Warrern Lamperd riding Silvia is in equal 39th position after scoring 50.5. He trails his brother Murray by 0.2 of a penalty.

Full results and more at the event website http://www.burghley-horse.co.uk/  

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