Four-in-Hand Driving Continues with Marathon Phase
By Jeannie Blancq Putney and Brian Sosby

The marathon phase stood in front of 49 international drivers and their four-in-hand teams on Friday at the 2006 WEG and across the long and tiring course there were triumphs and trip-ups. It was a big course, even thought it didn’t present itself to be so according to some of the drivers who traveled it. It was a constant up-and-down track, characterized by those who drove it as a real championships course. And rightfully so, as many drivers-in-the-know has said this is going to be one of the closet and most highly contested world championships to be seen. And with no less than six previous Gold medalists in the running, it is turning out to be just that with stiff competition from Germany’s Michael Freund and France’s Ysbrand Chardon.

For a four-in-hand driver, there is a lot going on. First there is the team of four horses, plus what might look like miles of reins to handle. In fact, there is more than 25 feet of length between the driver and his lead pair of horses. Add to that the extra passengers in the form of one to two on-board grooms and you can easily see that there are plenty of things to keep a driver busy.

Leading the Americans going into the marathon phase was Florida’s Chester Weber and his team. Their effort across the eight hazards presented them with a total score of 123.65, a 20th place finish for the day.

Asked if this was the marathon result he wanted, Weber was candid. “Not really,” he said. Weber said he made a clear driving mistake in the water, and made an extra loop. “We’re going to fight hard to stay in the top five,” he said. He had to change one of his horses out that he was going to use today that seemed a little sore yesterday. He feels that this affected his trip through the tough marathon.

Second up for Team USA was another Floridian, Tucker Johnson and his team of horses. After completing their marathon, they ended their test with a score of 122.15 seat them at 18th place going into the final day of driving – the cones.

Asked if his horses drove the way he thought they would, Tucker was more upbeat. “They did. My left leader was a little stronger in the hand than my right leader,” he said. “I was trying to build the course up, hazard by hazard. I was slower than I would have liked to have had, but it was what I could handle with my team.”

The team came in at a conservative pace, but built momentum, noting that it is harder for the horses to move through water than on the land. “They went, actually, better than I expected them to. I was really anticipating problems, and then I saw the clock coming out, I was like, ‘I’d like to take that back!’” said Johnson.

At #6, he had a hang-up where the team got split up on a panel and precious time was spent getting out of a tricky situation. “Again, one leader was more forward than another, puts them in a different position,” he said. “I’m not sure exactly what happened.” The team did recover well, though.

This was a bit of a newer team that Johnson had put together, and he did say that he was happy with their efforts, but there was one surprise. “I’m surprised they didn’t crash badly,” he said jokingly. “Every marathon I’ve driven this year, I’ve had terrible crashes.

Third around the test for Team USA was James Fairclough. “I thought they did a tremendous job,” he said of his young team. “There’s a lot of atmosphere out there and the footing is still heavy, yet it was still everything I asked for.”

Fairclough commented on what was observed by some “on the edge” during the marathon phase. “I don’t drive that way, I like to see my horses at the finish line,” he said. “I like to be really smooth…and I think my horses did really, really well. I went a little lighter in places to keep the momentum going because if you slow down you have to get all that energy going again.”

When finished with his marathon, Fairclough stood with a score of 123.77 in 21st place.

Team Standings

Germany leads the four-in-hand drivers at Aachen with a composite score of 311.84. In second place is The Netherlands with a score of 315.03. Right behind them is Belgium standing on 315.95. Hungary is at fourth place with 322.87 and Team USA stands at fifth place on a score of 327.84.

Unexpected Course Happenings

Not everyone had a good trip through the hazards today, in particular, a member of Team Ireland and Team Netherlands Antilles.

Shortly after entering the first of eight obstacles on the course (the WEG 2006 obstacle), Barry Capstick from Ireland got his carriage stuck while making a sharp turn. Maneuvering the team of horses back and forth did no good for the driver. Quickly, the carriage overturned, pinning the driver on a corner post. Capstick was bruised and none of his horses were seriously injured.

The final phase of the World Championship for four-in-hand driving ends on Saturday with the exciting cones phase.