EXELL IN A CLASS OF HIS OWN IN HANNOVER

By FEI

FEI World Cup™ Driving title defender Boyd Exell from Australia was in a class of his own at the first leg of the 2009/2010 season in Hannover, Germany on October 25, 2009. Exell drove an impeccable fast round and stayed ten seconds ahead of Koos de Ronde from the Netherlands and Tomas Eriksson from Sweden.

With four out of the six 2008/2009 World Cup finalists present, the drivers considered the first World Cup competition in Hannover as the leg with the strongest field of competitors. World Cup winner Boyd Exell, Dutch drivers Ijsbrand Chardon and Koos de Ronde, Jozsef Dobrovitz from Hungary, Tomas Eriksson and wild card driver Rainer Duen performed two days at in the Messehalle in Hannover where they were cheered by many enthusiastic visitors of the German Classics horse show.

Exell had some bad luck on the first day when his spare horse Pascal was declared not fit to compete by the veterinarians. After his fourth place in the warm up competition, Exell did some fine-tuning on his horses and this resulted in two very fast rounds in the World Cup competition. Unlike his fellow competitors who all drove the same horses as last season, Exell used a new leader horse in his team in Hannover. Spitfire, a 16-year-old gelding who was formerly owned by the German four-in-hand-driver Max Dangel, moved to Exell’s stables several weeks ago and the 2008 bronze medallist at the World Championships in Beesd is very pleased with this new horse.

Exell drove a clear and fast first round which none of his fellow competitors were able to beat. Koos de Ronde and Tomas Eriksson qualified for the winning round, while reigning World Champion IJsbrand Chardon had to miss this after he knocked a ball down. Chardon’s team lost speed in the marathon obstacles, where they normally are the fastest. Chardon however took his fourth place as a good sportsman and is determined to make up for it in Stuttgart. The Lipizzaner horses of Jozsef Dobrovitz lacked speed and teamwork in Hannover, which made the organizer of the international competition in Vecses come fifth, ahead of home driver Rainer Duen who had received the wild card.

After Tomas Eriksson had knocked two balls down, Koos de Ronde knew he had to drive as fast as possible to put the pressure on Exell, who was only five seconds ahead of him. De Ronde drove his special indoor team very fast through the much-praised course, designed by the German World Championship course designer Dr. Wolfgang Asendorf, and set a very fast time in a clear round. Exell felt the pressure, but went full throttle, drove a clear round and secured his victory for the first time in Hannover. 

The next FEI World Cup driving event takes place in Stuttgart, Germany, on November 20 to 21, 2009. For more information, visit www.feiworldcup.org.

Photo: Rinaldo de Craen