17 December 2015

London Olympia: Boyd Exell: ‘The horses felt like magic’

And yet another win for Boyd Exell to add to his long list of successes. The six-time World Cup Champion won this afternoon’s Dodson & Horrell Extreme Carriage Driving Class, cheered by many enthusiastic spectators in London Olympia. Runner-up IJsbrand Chardon used a spare horse in the lead and finished second, ahead of József Dobrovitz.

“My horses felt like magic,” said Boyd after the class. “They were easy, soft and smooth to drive and I had to keep saying ‘slow down’! I was a bit disappointed when I found out I had knocked one ball down, it felt like a clear round, but I am still pleased of course.”

Exell finished over 2 seconds ahead of IJsbrand Chardon, who put down the only clear round today. Chardon used his spare horse Inci in the lead to replace his more experienced Aladin, who had a cough this morning. Chardon will decide tomorrow morning if he will replace Inci by Aladin again.

József Dobrovitz travelled to Olympia with five horses but one of his horses turned out to be unfit upon arrival, which left Dobrovitz with four horses to use. Luckily it was his spare horse and the multiple Hungarian Champion drove his team of Lipizzaner horses to the third place today.

Georg von Stein drove a fast round, but two knock downs dropped him to the fourth place, ahead of Glenn Geerts.

Koos de Ronde set the second fastest time behind Boyd, but finished on an unusual 6th place after knocking down three balls because his wheeler horses were very hard to drive today.
Daniel Naprous only had one knock down and very much enjoyed his drive at Olympia, where he also competed in 2012 and 2014.

The first competition of the FEI World Cup™ Driving is scheduled on Friday 18th December at 12.30 hrs. (UK time). This will be broadcast live on FEI TV.

Click here for the starting orders and results

Click here for the photo album