FEI World Pony Driving Championship, Dorthealyst (DEN) - Four-in-Hand Marathon

The longest legs are not necessarily the fastest. That was proved today when the Dutch driver Aart van de Kamp Jr.and his four Shetland ponies won the marathon in the four-in-hand class with 85.58 points – and that in a superior manner with eight points to the second place.

“I hoped to win today but it was a difficulty marathon. The obstacles were very technical – especially the first one, which had only little space for the four-in-hands. Further, the carriage was hard to control in the second obstacle due to the sandy ground” said a very happy Aart van de Kamp Jr. who thereby improved his third place from the Championship in Catton Hall two years ago.

Silver as well as bronze ended in young hands this year. The second place was taken by 23-year-old Thomas Köppen and his four fjords from Germany with 93.55 point, while 22-year-old Tinne Bax and her welsh ponies from Belgium came third with 97,10 points.

Dutch Jan De Boer is new leader in the overall standing with 141.21 points, closely followed by today’s winner Aart van de Kamp Jr. with 142.92 points. In this way the race for the world champion title is very tight in the four-in-hand class, and it’s even going to be a to race between two country men in the cones tomorrow. Aart van de Kamp jr. is off course in the pursuit of the over all first place. He says:

“I will try to stay cool. Jan De Boer is a good driver, so he is hard to beat. But I will try to get to a clear round in order to put pressure on him”.

Thomas Köppen is now third in the overall standing with 146.61 points, while yesterday’s dressage winner, Thomas Bücker, went to an 11th place after his marathon.