AACHEN, Germany--Chester Weber is third after the Driving Marathon while the team dropped to fifth on Saturday, Aug. 22 at the World Championships.
Chester Weber (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photo)The rain added to the difficulty of the Marathon course that consisted of eight complicated obstacles.
After the dressage and marathon phases, Weber is on 147.72 behind the leader, Boyd Excell of Australia on 142.34 and Dries Degrieck of Belgium on 147.72.
Bram Chandon of Netherlands is fourth on 157.20, meaning Weber can have two cones down abd stiil be the individual bronze medalist.
The team is fifth on a score of 333.26.
Weber's team consisted of Despardo, Kadora, Amadeus, and Nico Tuesje C, and he is only 4.27 points behind first place.
"I'm super proud of Amadeus," said Weber. "He''s 21 years old, and he's mu left wheel horse. He's half Hackney, and Hackneys are maybe not the best young horses. But when he settled into the job, the marathon really suits him."
“THE TEAM did a fantastic job,” Weber said of his team. “I had some issues in the beginning of the season, getting Kadora really to match the other horses. He has a much flatter canter and I need to get the speed out of him. But, he grew up and got better and better all season, so I was super proud of him today.”
Taren Lester finished 24th individually on 183.65, and Jimmy Fairclough finished 36th individually on 201.98 to be the drop score for the U.S. team, while Jean Thornton, competing as an individual, finished 50th out of 54 on 266.74.
Fairclough, of Newton, N.J, drove a team that includes two leaders making their first Four-in-Hand World Championship appearance.
“I feel a little rusty doing it, but it was nice,” Fairclough said. “The footing got a little slippery, but my horses were full of power, so that wasn’t a problem. In America, we don’t have crowds like this, it adds to the excitement of marathon.”
“Pretty much every turn, we went a little bit slower than I’d like, but I’d rather not have a mistake,” he said.
“I’m just thrilled to have finished this incredible course here at Aachen,” Thornton said. “It’s been a lifelong dream for me to be able to compete here and to work with these beautiful, talented horses. It’s such a privilege. They’re the stars here.”
