Festive fairytale finish for Ijsbrand Chardon in London (GBR)

The legendary Ijsbrand Chardon (NED) showed that age is no barrier to victory for one of the most exciting wins in his long career at the sixth leg of the FEI Driving World Cup™ – his first win in London (GBR) since 2017.  Producing lightning-fast rounds over two days of competition, he electrified the packed arena with his passion and energy to race home clear in 153.86 in Saturday evening’s drive-off.

Having added eight to his first round on Saturday, it looked like he had left himself too much to do for a drive-off place but the acceleration he found over the second part of the course kept him in contention – to add to his third place on Friday.

The 63-year-old seemed to plug into the power generated by a full house that noisily responded to the spectacle of Driving’s most decorated champion doing what he has done so uniquely for decades.  Using the versatile Casper in the right lead, coupled with the clever mare Kendi in the left lead, who is a stalwart of his son Bram’s team, Ijsbrand deftly manoeuvred the four horses through the course with such speed and panache that they couldn’t be caught. 

“It was a perfect day and the level was really high.  You could see it yesterday when Dries was first, Boyd second and I was third.  But today, when I had two balls in the first round in number five, I thought maybe at this level I might be out of the competition.  But my team was really, really fast and my daughter Lianne was behind me and she said, ‘Papa, faster, faster, go, go, go!’

The horses were so fantastic and it was a really good day for them.  In the last round I didn’t make any mistakes and the speed was great.  Dries had a good time in front of me, and with Boyd behind me, I had to make a good job with no mistakes.  We were so near each other which made the competition so close.” – Ijsbrand Chardon (NED)

Although Boyd Exell (AUS) was last to go in Saturday’s drive-off and was faster on time in 150.16, he had an early ball.  That, plus a hasty veer left at speed to make the finish gates, meant he fell behind by only 0.3 on 154.16.  He had also been second on Friday by another narrow margin of 1.98.  Having completed his four qualifying legs, he came to London as a wild card and already has the maximum 30 points to top the rankings table after six legs.

“It's a proud second to be 0.3 behind Ijsbrand, with a mistake, and my horses were great.  Congratulations to Ijsbrand because Bram has been winning a lot and Dries recently has been winning a lot.  Ijsbrand is 63, so I hope I’m winning in ten years’ time as well.” – Boyd Exell (AUS)

Dries Degrieck (BEL) has said the two wins in Lyon (FRA) and Stockholm (SWE) this series have been a dream come true and his win on Friday made it seem like there might be another perfect ending.  As the last driver in the first round, he had the weight of expectation and like Ijsbrand had 8 to add, although was only 0.2 behind on time.  After the break to prepare the arena, he was first in for the drive-off and had 4 to add to his time of 157.76 (161.76).  But it wasn’t going to be easy to replicate the success of the previous events as he had to replace his leader Hunter at the last minute with a new horse, Frankie.

“I am really happy with the horses, especially the new horse, but tonight Boyd and Ijsbrand were too fast for me.  But I couldn’t wish for better.” – Dries Degrieck (BEL)

Koos de Ronde (NED) recovered well for fourth place on Saturday with a clear in 166.12 after his leaders took a surprising turn away from the bridge at number four at the last minute on Friday.  It added time, then an additional 20 later in the course meant that he was out of contention and ended seventh. 

Anna Mareike Meier (GER) was consistent throughout the weekend at her fourth event of the series, finishing fifth on both days.  After adding 8 on Friday, she was clear in 171.64 on Saturday.  Fredrik Persson (SWE), at his third event in the series, drove clears on both days for fourth on Friday and sixth on Saturday (174.50). 

Wild card Daniel Naprous (GBR) is a popular fixture each year in London and was sixth on Friday.  He started well on Saturday, only to be stopped by the bell when a wheeler trace broke and trailed on the ground.  The grooms down to fix the problem added five, then a malfunction of the harness added 10, plus there were two balls, so Daniel was disappointed with seventh on 198.73 after achieving fourth place last year.

Jeroen Houterman’s (NED) course provided appropriate challenges for the three-quarter stage in the series.  There was plenty of drama to keep fans glued to the action as they followed the rapid changing of fortunes which delivered a surprise result. 

Dries now sits second in the rankings table on 27 and Ijsbrand has risen to third on 17 having earned a maximum 10 points to help his goal to reach Bordeaux (FRA).  With two more legs to go, the next venue is Mechelen (BEL) after Christmas when Dries and Koos will be joined by Bram Chardon (NED), Geog von Stein (GER) and Jérôme Voutaz (SUI).

But the weekend belongs to the iconic Ijsbrand Chardon, who radiated pure joy and infectious enthusiasm.  Showing that nobody does it better, the ending was a fitting Christmas present for devotees of the FEI Driving World Cup™.

The live action in Mechelen will be on FEI TV on 29 -30 December.