REIGNING FEI World Cup driving champion, Australia’s Boyd Exell won the series first qualifier of the season in a packed Stuttgart after two thrilling rounds.

Dutch driver IJsbrand Chardon was the runner up while third place was claimed by home driver Christoph Sandmann.

Exell drove his very fast bay team, including his new leader horse Poker, to the top place in the first round and recorded a very fast time. Poker and the left leader horse Bajnok are Lipizzaners by the same sire.

The Australian was however a little too confident and went too fast in one of the marathon type obstacles knocking a ball down with the leader bars. Fortunately this did not endanger the leading position he had secured after the first round.

His opponent Chardon competed with his experienced team of Lipizzaner horses and was two seconds faster, but the four-time world champion had three knockdowns, which almost cost him a starting place in the winning round. German wildcard driver Daniel Schneiders also made three mistakes and was slower than Chardon, which caused him to drop to seventh place.

Germany’s Christoph Sandmann had put together a special indoor team consisting of two horses from the retired German four-in-hand driver Christian Plücker, a horse borrowed from Georg von Stein and a young horse from his daughter Anna, who was also his navigator.

Chardon was first to go in the winning round, which took place over a shortened course, designed by CDI**** course designer Germany’s Dr Wolfgang Asendorf.

Exell demonstrated great skills and led his team in full speed over the course, cheered all along by the enthusiastic spectators. He was faster than Chardon winning with a nine-second advantage and it’s the fourth time that the Australian has been crowned as ‘German Master’ in the Schleyer Halle.

Exell said: “Today’s standard was very high, everybody drove well. I am pleased with my new leader horse Poker, I have to get to know him though. I have had him since Aachen and all I have done with him is dressage training. It will take me all season to find out how I can drive him best, but it already looks as if he could be a potential new Bill, my best leader ever who died last year.”

Hungary’s József Dobrovitz drove his team of grey Lipizzaners to the fourth place and was followed by German wildcard driver Georg von Stein, who competed for the first time with two new bay Lipizzaner horses in the lead.