Exell scores a second success in Stockholm

Reigning FEI World Cup™ and world champion Boyd Exell (AUS) has won the third leg of the FEI World Cup™ Driving held in Stockholm (SWE) leaving home driver Fredrik Persson and young Belgian Glenn Geerts behind.

The new Friends Arena in Stockholm was packed with enthusiastic equestrian fans. It was the first time that the Sweden International Horse Show, previously known as the Stockholm International Horse Show, took place in this multifunctional arena located just outside of Sweden’s capital city.

International course designer Dan Henriksson (SWE) had built a challenging course in the arena which is much bigger compared to the Globen one where the show was held previously. This resulted in a longer course featuring three marathon type obstacles, the regular cones and a bridge where fireworks went off as the drivers crossed it.

“The course was hard work, it was very technical and we had no chance for a break. It was a good fight tonight and all the horses were fresh because of the day off. Both Fredrik and Glenn did a great job in the Winning Round” said Boyd.

Exell’s leader horses were not used to the day off between the first competition and the World Cup competition and were very fresh in the arena. The Australian was second to last to start and he knew that his big opponent Tomas Eriksson (SWE), who would be the last driver in the arena, would go for it, so Exell went at full speed. The result was two knockdowns but a very fast time. Eriksson made some mistakes as well and did not qualify for the Winning Round. This took the pressure off Exell, who decided to change his routes. He set the fastest times of the evening in the Winning Round and won with a respectable 17-second advantage over Persson.

Exell has been helping Persson with his marathon driving skills since the summer and the training paid off indoors as well. The Swede drove his team of older horses – the youngest being 17 - smooth and fast through the course and was very pleased with their performance.