Koos de Ronde produced an excellent performance late on Monday evening to win the FEI World Cup™ Driving at the Nekkerhal in Mechelen, Belgium for the fifth time in his career. Sweden’s Fredrik Persson drove with enormous skill to finish second ahead of Germany’s Georg von Stein whose team is finally coming together. Top favourite, Boyd Exell from Australia, knocked four balls down to line up in sixth place.
Fantastic atmosphere
De Ronde was the last man to compete in the Winning Round, in which the Top Three drivers started from scratch for the first time. He felt the pressure after Fredrik Persson had driven a clear round to beat De Ronde’s time of the first round by two seconds. The team gold medallist of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy decided to go for it and drove at full risk. He knew exactly where he was able to make up some time and drove his team fast, fluently and faultlessly through the course, cheered by the many enthusiastic spectators in Mechelen who created a fantastic atmosphere.
De Ronde, who also topped the line-up at the Belgian fixture in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012, finished four seconds faster than Persson. He started with a wild card, and therefore did not earn World Cup points, but with one more leg to go in Leipzig, he is lying fifth in the standings and it seems very likely that he will be amongst the Top Six drivers for the Final.
Top three plan
Another brilliant round was put down by Fredrik Persson. The driving teacher at the National Equestrian school in Flyinge, Sweden grew in the competition with his team of older horses who worked together in perfect harmony. After some hiccups on the first day, and one ball in the first round, Persson took full advantage of the new system and put the pressure on De Ronde by driving a fast and clear Winning Round, which took place over the same course.
Perssons’s goal was a place in the top three in Mechelen to secure his starting ticket for the Final in Bordeaux, and his plan worked. Because de Ronde was competing on a wild card, Persson picked up ten points and is now lying second in the standings.
Happy man in Mechelen
Georg von Stein was a very happy man in Mechelen. He was second to go in the first round and drove clear but not very fast. He had not expected to qualify for the Winning Round, but after his compatriot, Christoph Sandmann, had one knock-down, Theo Timmerman (NED) collected two faults and Boyd Exell left the arena with an uncharacteristic 20 penalty seconds, Von Stein was back in the game.
His four-in-hand with two new leader horses, which he has been driving since the start of this season, did a great job and Georg could drive them at high speed through the course. The experience they gained at the previous competitions is paying off. Unfortunately Georg made one mistake himself and one horse hit a ball, which resulted in third place. Georg was nevertheless a very happy man in Mechelen.
Five-time FEI World Cup Driving™ champion, Boyd Exell, who has been busy moving his horses and his home to Valkenswaard in the Netherlands in the past days, was unable to focus as he normally would and finished sixth in Mechelen after knocking down four balls.
World Cup debut
It was the first time that Dutch international Level 4 Course Designer Jeroen Houterman designed the course in Mechelen and the drivers were all very pleased with his track, which included several cones gates, a bridge and three marathon-type obstacles.
After the first day, some small changes were made to make the course even more fluent and this worked very well. The course was nice to watch for the spectators. Houterman himself was happy as well: “I will always keep learning, there are always small things to improve, but I am very pleased.”
New format
The new format in which the Top Three drivers start from scratch in the Winning Round was a huge success. This option was introduced into the FEI World Cup™ Driving rules this year and it was the first time that an organiser made use of it. It offered an equal opportunity for all three drivers, which resulted in a very exciting competition that was much appreciated by the fantastic crowd in Mechelen.
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