Australia’s Boyd Exell moved into first place as the dressage phase of the FEI World Four-in-Hand Driving Championships wrapped up, but overnight leader Chester Weber of the U.S. stayed near the top of the standings in third place.
“I love driving, the score is only the icing on the cake,” said Boyd.
“My right leader is Checkmate and today he was the showpiece. He was a wheeler in Normandy and Tryon (the 2014 and 2018 world championships) and now he’s a leader. He’s always been a really special horse. Celviro is my left leader, he’s the solid one and every time he delivers. I have a new wheeler called Hero and he did well–he’s a marathon specialist.”
Chester Weber and his team. (Photo © Massimo Argenziano )
Boyd, ranked world number one, earned 34.13 penalties for his test. Mareike Harm of Germany collected just 38.85 penalties to stand second. She is listed as number six in the world rankings.
“I have a nice lead but it’s a three-day competition and a lot can go wrong. We had problems in Aachen in the cross-country and a five-point lead is not enough, so it’s not over until Sunday afternoon,” Boyd pointed out.
Chester, number 17 in the world, was marked at 41.52 penalties, while Anna Sandmann of Germany is fourth on 42.52. The daughter of three-time world champion Christoph Sandmann is 34th in the world rankings. She is not competing as a member of the German squad, but that nation still has the lead in the team standings (88.03), ahead of the Netherlands (89.23) and the two-man team from Australia (91.50), operating without the benefit of a drop score.
Chester moved to Europe in May to prepare for the championships in Pratoni del Vivaro Italy.
“The way the sport is, if you want to be in the top five, you have to spend time competing against those top five,” he explained. His team of horses are all Dutch warmbloods. Two of them are veterans of the gold medal U.S. team at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, N.C., four years ago.
The U.S. does not have a team at Pratoni because Misdee Wrigley withdrew shortly before the championships due to health issues. It only requires two drivers to make up a team in driving.
The marathon gets under way tomorrow at 4 a.m. Eastern time.
For individual standings, click here. For team standings, click this link.