Dutch driver IJsbrand Chardon won last night's FEI World Cup qualifier in Bordeaux in breath taking style. Wild card driver Chardon stayed ahead of Tomas Eriksson in second guaranteeing the Swede the sixth and last starting place for the Final in Leipzig.
Werner Ulrich knocked two balls down in the winning round to finish third. The atmosphere was superb on Saturday evening in the Palais des Expositions in Bordeaux. The drivers put on a perfect show, cheered on by the many enthusiastic spectators and the great music.
Dutch driver Theo Timmerman, Sweden’s Fredrik Persson and Tomas Eriksson and Switzerland’s Daniel Würgler all had a last chance in Bordeaux to claim the sixth and last starting place for the Final in Leipzig. Würgler knocked three cones down in the course, designed by German course designer Falk Böhnisch, to lose his chance for Leipzig. Despite the use of one of Boyd Exell’s top horses Pascal in he lead of his team, Fredrik Persson could not manage to qualify for the Winning Round. By coming sixth, Persson also knew his chances for a starting place in the Leipzig line-up were gone. Timmerman had improved his team compared to the warm-up round, but he finished fifth despite his efforts.
Winner of the Warm-Up round Werner Ulrich qualified his team of Swiss warmblood horses and a Lipizzaner for the Winning Round, together with Chardon and Eriksson, who then was already certain of his ticket for the Final. After Ulrich had left the arena with two knockdowns and an easy-to- beat time, he left the door open for his opponents. Tomas Eriksson and his team stole the show by wearing blue hats with yellow wigs, which were very popular last week at the World Handball Championships in Sweden. Eriksson flew through the course and set a very fast time despite knocking down a ball. So it was all in the hands of IJsbrand Chardon with his Lipizzaner team, which he has been competing with since November 2009. Chardon knew he had to start off even faster but he knocked a cone down by taking a turn too sharply. That meant the four times World Champion had to go for it even more and he crossed the finish line after a breath taking round two seconds faster than Eriksson. That time allowed Chardon to claim the first FEI World Cup win of his career with his Lipizzaner team.
Standings after 7 of 7 events & qualified for the Final in Leipzig from 29 April – 1 May 2011:
| 1 | Boyd Exell | AUS | 27 |
| 2 | Koos de Ronde | NED | 25 |
| 3 | Jozsef Dobrovitz | HUN | 24 |
| 4 | Werner Ulrich | SUI | 22 |
| 5 | IJsbrand Chardon | NED | 21 |
| 6 | Tomas Eriksson | SWE | 17 |
Not qualified for the Final:
| 7 | Zoltan Lazar | HUN | 9 |
| Daniel Würgler | SUI | 9 | |
| Fredrik Persson | SWE | 9 | |
| Theo Timmerman | NED | 9 |
