Stable girl who hit the jackpot! £2m for horses thanks to lotto win lover
BEFORE he won £148million in the EuroMillions, Adrian Bayford had never risked more than a flutter on the horses.
But things have changed since the 44-year- old lottery winner fell in l ove with f ormer stable girl Sam Burbidge.
He has splashed out £2million of his windfall on at least ten horses and stables for his fiancee, who is 16 years his junior.
The facilities include a £1.5million arena and several horseboxes, including one said to be worth £100,000.
Last month Mr Bayford bought 35acre Forest Edge Arena at Drymere near Swaffham in Norfolk, which has a 80 by 40-yard indoor arena and a 110 by 50-yard outdoor arena.
It reportedly offers ‘showjumping, dressage, showing, Pony Club and driving activities’.
But the investment is solely for showjumper Sam, whose regular job was cleaning out stables before meeting former postman Mr Bayford in January last year, friends told the Sun.
A message on the business’s website reads: ‘Samantha and the team are pleased to welcome you to Forest Edge Arena.’
One friend said: ‘I heard from people at the pub that Adrian had bought as many as 20 horses for her. I know he’s bought a massive horsebox for something like £100,000. It has everything except a mobile disco.’
Another friend said: ‘Adrian had nothing to do with horses before he met Sam, apart from putting on the odd couple of quid at the bookies.
‘Everyone knows she loves horses and I guess he wants to help her. He has to invest his money in something so why not put it in something that Sam is interested in? I can understand it, she is the woman he loves.’
Father- of-two Mr Bayford, from Haverhill, Suffolk, won the EuroMillions jackpot with his wife Gillian in 2012.
They became r i cher than Tom Jones or Eric Clapton overnight – and celebrated their win with takeaway pizzas.
But they split a year later and ex- children’s nurse Gillian, 42, is now married to car salesman Alan Warnock, who she met when she bought a fleet of luxury cars at the Audi dealership where he worked. The couple now live in her home town of Dundee.
It r ecently emerged that they had made their own investment – opening a retro sweet shop with a 50-seat tea room in Arbroath, Angus.
Mr Bayford met his fiancee in a pub. He proposed after just three months while holidaying in the Maldives and they now share his £6million Georgian mansion near Cambridge.
According to the British Showjumping website Sam competes on five different horses.
Her Facebook page describes how she recently competed in Spain and also has several photos of her riding abroad.
‘He has to invest in something’