Beneath an array of sparkling Christmas trees dangling from above, Bram Chardon (NED) found the perfect festive present with his first victory of the 2024-2025 series at the seventh and penultimate FEI Driving World Cup™ leg in Mechelen (BEL). His total of 124.55 beat fellow Dutchman Koos de Ronde by only 0.1, but it was enough for the win, 10 valuable ranking points and a place at the final in Bordeaux (FRA).

As the first driver forward on Monday nights’ drive-off, Bram had to wait and watch as Koos and home favourite Dries Degrieck (BEL) completed their rounds before he was confirmed as the winner.

“I had a long wait this season for my first win. I have two new horses in the team and I had high hopes throughout all the competitions but every time I made mistakes. I was very hungry for a win and wanted to finish with at least one win in this season. I was afraid my knockdown at seven was going to destroy my party because of losing some of my rhythm after seven and before eight which were tricky gates, and my line was a bit interrupted. But it was enough to put pressure on the others to make mistakes and it was a tight call in the end”, Chardon said.

Advertisement