Calm, consistent, focused and relishing the world stage, Boyd Exell showed again why he is driving’s most decorated individual champion. The Australian finished on 142.64, ahead of Belgium’s Dries Degrieck on 148.85 and USA’s Chester Weber on 156.77 at the FEI World Championships in Aachen.
Last to enter a near-capacity Stadium 2 on Sunday afternoon, Boyd guided his experienced team through the cones for just 0.30 penalties to finish second in the phase and ultimately seal another World title – as well as help Australia go one better than their bronze of two years ago by taking team silver behind the Netherlands.
As Boyd pulled up after his cones round, he handed the reins to long-term groom Emma Olsson, jumped off the carriage and kissed and patted his horses.
Afterwards he said: “I feel relief. We’ve got good horsepower and I brought my old horses to this World Championship.
“I’d like to pay tribute to a horse called Celviro who was injured at Royal Windsor this year and wasn’t able to come. He was a three-day leader for me so there was a bit of a change around for the rest of the season. But I brought my favourite old horse Checkmate and he’s so good in dressage and cones, and he’s 19, so he gave me a lot of confidence to be strong for the Aachen World Championship.
“Daan, who is 18 now and has won medals before, was brought in this year because he’s renowned as a fast cones and marathon horse.”
Alongside Daan and Checkmate for the cones phase were the slightly younger Hero and Mister Bono van’t Hooge.
Discussing Australia’s Team success, Boyd reflected on his work with teammate Tor van den Berge: “With no drop score everything counts, and Tor and I have been working together and practising for this occasion and that’s paid off.”
Boyd Exell also paid tribute to the Australian fans who were vocal in their support at every stage, plus course designer Alexander Flocke of Germany and the grounds team at Aachen, who overcame extreme weather conditions to keep the going as good as possible.
Tor van den Berge 11th in the world
Tor van den Verge was clear of faults in the cones and accrued just the 8.89 time penalties to finish 11th in the phase with horses Carbery Estate Chino, Carbery Estate Cato, Indiana and Kerosine. The Australian was ultimately 11th overall from more than 50 starters, an outstanding effort on the world stage.
The Netherlands records team gold
Sitting in fourth overnight, Bram Chardon had probably left too much to do to achieve his dream of double gold, but team gold was well within sight. A cones aficionado, he produced an electrifying double clear, the only one of the day, and his explosive emotional reaction afterwards showed what it meant. He could not secure an individual medal, but he did steer his team to a remarkable 13th World Championship victory.
It was tight – the Netherlands ended on 315.13, ahead of two-man Australia by only 2.12 points – less than a cone – on 317.25. The Belgians, pre-event contenders for gold, were happy to settle for another bronze on 325.52. There was disappointment for the Germans that they could not make the podium, finishing fourth on 334.35, ahead of the USA and France.
Triumphant times
Everyone agreed that this was a classic World Championship for driving. Praise was universal for the course designer, who had to balance the broad abilities of those entered while providing enough challenges for the top drivers – something he achieved.
Both the obstacles and the cones were deemed “horse friendly”, and each and every one involved made magical, lifelong memories at an amazing Aachen celebration of horse sport.
View the individual results here.
Source: FEI press release by Sarah Dance, edited by Equestrian Life
