17 January 2015
Leipzig: Easy win for Exell
Five times World Cup Champion Boyd Exell put down an excellent performance tonight in the Leipziger Messe. Exell won easily, ahead of Jozsef Dobrovitz and IJsbrand Chardon.
Boyd competes with a wild card in Leipzig and was the first man in the arena, which was filled with enthusiastic spectators. Boyd put down the time to beat in the demanding course of Dr. Wolfgang Asendorf. Boyd drove controlled and risk free and made the four-in-hand driving sport look easy once again, passing the finish line with a clear round.
Jozsef Dobrovitz put two new horses in the left side of his team and drove fantastically short and sharp in the marathon obstacles and was in the end only four seconds slower than Boyd. His clear round moved him up to a well-deserved second place.
Second to last starter IJsbrand Chardon drove his team of Lipizzaner horses very fast through the course, but two knock downs in the second marathon obstacle dropped him to the third place. Chardon was only half a second slower than Boyd, which promises an exciting competition on Sunday in the FEI World Cup™ Driving competition.
Werner Ulrich lost some time in the marathon obstacles, but only knocked one ball down and came fourth.
Koos de Ronde tried to attack Boyd’s time, but knocked a ball off the pair of cones on the bridge twice and finished fifth.
Second wild card driver Georg von Stein used two other horses compared to his previous World Cup starts and drove a reasonably fast course. Two knockdowns however dropped him to the sixth place.
Theo Timmerman lacked the necessary speed in the short turns and was unable to keep up with the fast rounds of his opponents and came seventh tonight.
