Boyd Exell captured his third individual victory in Aachen, Germany, on July 17. The driver from Australia also won this prestigious international four-in-hand driving competition in 2003 and 2009. He got a head start in dressage and held onto his lead throughout the event.

Four-time World Champion Ijsbrand Chardon of the Netherlands finished second, ahead of Germany’s Christoph Sandmann. The Netherlands came out on top of the Nations Cup ahead of hosts Germany, with Switzerland in third.

A New Format

The CAIO and World Cup qualifying competition in Aachen ran in a different format than usual. The four-in-hand drivers drove the regular dressage test on Thursday, followed by the obstacle driving competition on Friday. The marathon, broadcast live on television, was run as the final phase to bring the combined driving competition to a dramatic finish.  

“The format where the marathon takes place after the cones is new to me. My horses were a little too fresh for the cones, which resulted in a knock down and time penalties, but other than that I did not mind,” said Exell. “I encourage this new format to promote driving and to make it more spectacular and understandable for the media and the spectators.”

Unanimous First Place 

Exell’s outstanding dressage test was unanimously awarded first place by the international ground jury, which included four of the five World Championship judges. Dutch driver Theo Timmerman placed second after dressage, ahead of U.S. driver Jimmy Fairclough.

Exell drove a near faultless test with his team of black geldings, which were extremely light and elegant throughout. The current World Cup champion won the CAIO Aachen 2009 with the same horses, and he said his team is getting better at every show.

Chardon started with a disadvantage after his all-round horse Argus injured a leg just before the horse inspection and was taken out of the competition.

Quick Cones

Hungary’s Zoltan Lázár and his team of grey Lipizzaner horses won the second phase of the combined competition. Lázár was the first driver to go clear and inside the time on the challenging course, designed by Germany’s Dr Wolfgang Asendorf. The former pair and four-in-hand World Champion proved to be a true showman and treated the spectators in the stadium to a very exciting and fast drive-off round, which he won ahead of home drivers Rainer Duen and Sandmann. Sandmann was competing in his first outdoor driving event of the season after undergoing knee surgery four weeks ago.

“My meniscus was operated on four weeks ago at the same time as my son Jan, who twisted his knee playing football. I’m supposed to sit down with my leg up, but of course I wanted to compete in Aachen,” said Sandmann. “Our team coach Ewald Maier had confidence in me and allowed me to start without having to qualify.”

Exell kept his lead in the individual standings despite one knock down and time penalties. Fairclough drove a clear round and kept his third position, just behind Timmerman.

“I went very forward but wasn’t going to go crazy because tomorrow’s another day,” Fairclough explained. “The marathon is the hardest on them. We prepare for tomorrow. The three days overall is what I’m really here for.”

Fairclough was driving a team of Dutch and Austrian Warmbloods, which have only been together since March of this year. The KWPN leader horses are leased from his compatriot Keady Cadwell, who successfully competed with this pair at the FEI World Pair Driving Championships in Kecskemét, Hungary, in 2009. The Austrian full sisters were driven by Georg Moser from Austria in the FEI World Four-In-Hand Driving Championships in Beesd, the Netherlands, in 2008.

“In all my years, it hasn’t come together this quickly, but the chemistry works well,” he said. “It’s really come together well, and it’s really looking good for WEG.”

Marathon Holds New Challenges

Asendorf designed eight challenging obstacles for the 24 drivers from 10 nations in Aachen. For the first time, he used transportable elements in four obstacles.

The beautiful bridge obstacle, which was only built four years ago for the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games, was completely rebuilt using treated wood. Obstacle 4 and 8 were brand new, and more collapsible elements were placed in every obstacle to ensure the safety of the horses.

The drivers started in reverse order of merit after dressage and cones, which resulted in an exciting battle between the top drivers.

Chardon had a communication problem with one of his horses in the first obstacle, but he got his team back on track from then onwards and drove a very strong marathon.

“It was not my competition in Aachen this year, but I am very happy that I came second after the misfortune I had when Argus was taken out,” said Chardon. “I had to use my marathon horse in the dressage, and I had to switch my horses around for the cones. In the marathon my horses went very well; they had a lot of power. I am pleased that I have proved that I can stay at the top with an alternate team of horses.”

Chardon won the marathon, but only by a narrow margin from Exell, to leave Exell in front overall. Switzerland’s Werner Ulrich, driving the team of Lusitano horses owned by the Portuguese Stud Sociedad Quinta des Terras, took third place in the marathon.

“My goal in the marathon was to protect my lead. I went the long way in the first obstacle to see how my horses were doing, and after that I just went for it. I felt like we were flying in the last obstacle!” said Exell.

Individual results CAIO Aachen, Germany, July 14-17

1.    Boyd Exell (Australia) 142.90
2.    IJsbrand Chardon (the Netherlands) 149.19
3.    Christoph Sandmann (Germany) 154.34
4.    Theo Timmerman (the Netherlands) 156.70
5.    Zoltan Lazar (Hungary) 159.57
6.    Daniel Würgler (Switzerland) 160.61
7.    Werner Ulrich (Switzerland) 169.11
8.    Tucker Johnson (USA) 171.57
9.    Rainer Duen (Germany) 173.02
10.  Dirk Gerkens (Germany) 173.75

Team results CAIO Aachen, Germany, July 14-17:

1.    The Netherlands 305.89
2.    Germany 316.65
3.    Switzerland 329.72
4.    Hungary 352.84
5.    Sweden 352.92
6.    USA 367.09
7.    France 414.62

Full results can be found on the Aachen CHIO website.