9 February 2025

Boyd Exell wins World Cup 2024-2025 very convincingly!

Today the second, and thus the final leg of the World Cup Final in Bordeaux took place. It might have been expected beforehand that Dries Degrieck, Bram or IJsbrand Chardon and Boyd Exell would compete against each other in the drive-off, but that did not seem obvious before the start and during the competition!

Because Dries made too many mistakes yesterday, he started today with about five seconds more to go than Boyd. It was clear that he was on the “all or nothing” tour. In fact, he started right after Wild Card competitor Benjamin Aillaud and Jérôme Voutaz. Jérôme was well underway, very unfortunate that a ball fell for him on the very last gate!

Dries improves fastest time

Dries let all the balls on top and drove the fastest time so far, also faster than the super good time of Boyd Exell the night before! Clearly the results of yesterday could be improved, everyone was immediately put on edge.

Then it was Koos de Ronde his turn. He drove a very good time of 154.76, but with his extra seconds after last night he finished just slightly below Dries Degrieck. He thus seemed to lose sight of the drive-off, and thus the podium. After all, Bram Chardon, IJsbrand Chardon and Boyd Exell still had to drive and it would be a very big exception if both of them were not there.

Unexpected

Yet the unexpected happened. Bram drove a great time but fallen balls on oxers five and eleven were too costly. As a result, he slid under Koos de Ronde. Then it was IJsbrand’s turn. Two balls fell for him as well, and being about three seconds slower than Bram, he had to sit behind him.

Boyd then did what was expected. He took off at lightning speed, drove smoothly through the course and finished in the time of 151.24 seconds. Thus Boyd Exell, Dries Degrieck and Koos de Ronde qualified for the Drive-off!

Different tactics

In the Drive-off, gate E of obstacle four and the A gate of obstacle did not have to be driven. So the lines changed and the finish times automatically became shorter. In obstacle ten the three drivers chose the same line, in obstacle four there were two tactics. Koos de Ronde and Boyd Exell drove diagonally through the D and then made a left circle to the F. Dries drove straight through the D and changed to the right to pick up the F.

Koos got off to a super start and stayed clear until after obstacle ten. A ball fell for him on the oxer of 11, where Bram and IJsbrand also made a mistake. Too bad, the team did a great job! Dries Degrieck was sharp, he was ready for another ‘all or nothing’ round. His split time was eleven seconds faster than Koos, but mistakes are easily made. In obstacle ten his left leader hit an element when turning in to the C gate causing a ball to fall. Too bad, he had a great start and didn’t seem to have let anything else down! With his super fast time he still managed to stay above Koos.

Duchess & Bundy

Boyd Exell got off to another flying start. He chose the same line as Koos in obstacle four, diagonally through the D to the F. It went smoothly, quickly and faultlessly. At the exit of obstacle ten it was exciting for a moment, as his right leader Duchess, who by the way is in Boyd’s team for only her first season, came face to face with an element. She stopped quickly, jumped aside to the very experienced Bundy and did not touch the wood! So Boyd stayed clear and drove the fastest time in the Drive-off. So a very broad and deserved victory, what an eventful evening!

“Katydid Duchess had really recovered wonderfully there,” Boyd let us know afterwards. “Her reflexes were great, and obviously it’s super for her to be next to Bajnok (called: Bundy). This is Duchess her first season and at the same time Bundy achieved her 100th FEI victory last night! So today was her 101st amazing right! I am super proud of my team of horses and people, everyone performed really great!”

“I think we showed very good sport today. Dries had nothing to lose today and put a lot of pressure on the others early on. Koos withstood that well and drove a good first round. For Bram and IJsbrand the two dropped balls were too much, so Koos took their place in the Drive-off. Great, it’s all so close together!”

Click here for the results
Click here for the photo album

Photo: Melanie Guillamot

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