21 December 2024
London: IJsbrand Chardon wins after exciting battle!
What excitement today in London! Just like yesterday, Boyd Exell, Dries Degrieck and IJsbrand Chardon were already close in the first round, less than two seconds apart. But in the end, after the drive-off, it was IJsbrand Chardon who came away with the victory today!IJsbrand Chardon had a super night. Yesterday he also selected for the drive-off and today his super fast times put him there again! Indeed, two balls fell for him and Koos de Ronde, who started first today due to his course error yesterday, had already set a sharp time. Despite some communication errors with the leaders in the first round today, he drove a time of 154 seconds, staying ahead of Koos de Ronde, Daniel Naprous, Mareike Harm, Fredrik Persson and Dries Degrieck.
For Daniel Naprous it was not a lucky day today. Early in the course, one of the traces came loose from the left wheeler. This forced the grooms off the carriage and cost him a total of 15 penalty points. Bad luck, but recovered well!
0.30 seconds difference
In the drive-off Dries Degrieck went first. He seemed to stay clear and set a time of 157 seconds, but unfortunately a ball fell on one of the last gates. Then it was IJsbrand’s turn. He went like a rocket, drove very smoothly and stayed clear. With his time of 153 seconds he managed to make a gap of about eight seconds to Dries Degrieck. So for last starter Boyd there was work to do, because they had not driven that fast yet this evening!
Boyd’s horses are fast, very fast. That is by now a well-known fact. He started off like a racket, but ran into a ball in obstacle five. The tension was palpable, could he be four seconds faster than IJsbrand to compensate for the ball? It seemed to work out, but on the very last gate before the finish, he kept looking at the cone too long, causing him not to steer straight to the finish. As a result, he had to make a small correction and that earned him exactly 0.30 seconds more than IJsbrand Chardon. Boyd seems to be balking after seeing his finishing time, he was so close!
IJsbrand is ecstatic. “Yes, it went great. Yesterday the horses were also very fine but then we weren’t as good as today. The horses were great, they worked super well together and also my grooms did a great job. I’m super happy,” he said afterwards.
Click here for the photo album
IJsbrand Chardon at London
Photo: Swingletree Photography
Copyright reserved. Acquisition without acknowledgment and permission from info@hoefnet.nl is not allowed.
