Exell in the driver's seat after marathon
With two phases down and only one to go Australia’s Boyd Exell is sitting in the gold medal position of the driving competition at the FEI World Equestrian Games 2014.
Exell and his team finished Saturday’s marathon phase in third place but their score from today combined with their dressage result has them sitting at the top of the leaderboard.
US driver Chester Weber, who was leading after the dressage phase, was 12th in the marathon phase and he trails Exell in the overall standings by less than three penalties.
With a dropped ball in the final cones phase equal to three penalty points, Exell has no room for error if he is to secure a second consecutive World Equestrian Games gold medal.
Aside from a mistake at the sixth obstacle, Exell said today’s marathon went according to plan.
“I came in a bit too brave (at six) and did a very fast triangle.
“I could see I was close to a knockdown on the outside so I pulled the team in and then everything became an overreaction. I came in too tight but had a good recovery into (marker) b then was a bit out of sorts going through c.
“We were going a little bit too fast then so I ended up putting another circle in from c to d and then I thought I need to make up for that so I took a brave direct route straight up the hill. Rambo (lead horse) climbed the top of Mount Everest for me so he did a good job.
"The horses were strong and fresh, pulling me into the obstacles. They had lots of power so to catch-up 5-6 points is good. My horses gave me everything. They’re a very experienced group” said Exell.
Australia’s Gavin Robson was also in action today and is currently ranked 39th. Australia is now ranked 9th in the team’s event.
Sunday’s cones phase begins early for the drivers commencing at 8am local time (4pm AEST).
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