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American Flag Waves High in Hungary as Chester Weber Wins at Vecses

Chester Weber, America’s reigning four-in-hand driving champion, proved he also has the ability to dominate on foreign soil when he won the international combined driving competition in Vecses, Hungary. (Photo courtesy of Marie de Ronde-Oudemans)

Vecses, Hungary (June 8, 2011) – The American flag was waving high in Hungary when Combined Driver Chester Weber drove the team, comprised of two of Jane Clark’s horses and two of his own horses, to victory at CAIO Vecses, an international combined driving competition in Vecses, Hungary. Weber won the dressage phase with a score of 37.25, placed sixth in the marathon and followed it up with a double clear cones trip which launched him into the win with a total score of 145.51. Koos de Ronde, of the Netherlands, finished in second with 149.63 and Jozsef Dobrovitz, of Hungary, came in third with a score of 150.22.

Weber, who celebrated his 36th birthday on the day of the dressage test at the CAIO Vecses, said he was thrilled with the win and pleased with the results throughout the competition. “I used Jane Clark’s horses Uniek and Splash in the dressage test and was very pleased that we received a first place from all five judges,” Weber said. “The marathon was exceptionally competitive, and it was fantastic to compete against the best drivers in the world. We posted the fastest time on the sixth obstacle of the marathon, which I was very happy about.  We then went double clear in the cones and ended up second in that phase to round out our win.”

Weber, who is the eight-time USEF National Four-In-Hand Combined Driving Champion, is staying in Europe as he prepares for Aachen in July. “We brought nine horses with us to Europe and right now we are staying outside of Frankfurt, Germany at Michael Freund’s, our U.S. team coach, as we continue to work the horses. Next week we will compete at the CAI Altenfelden in Austria,” Weber said.

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Weber Wins in Vecsés

Chester Weber (USA) won the dressage and stayed in the lead throughout the competition in Vecsés to claim the first CAIO victory of his career. (c) Marie de Ronde-Oudemans.

Vecsés (HUN), 5 June 2011 – Chester Weber, the USA’s top four-in-hand driver, has won the international combined driving competition in Vecsés, Hungary this weekend. Weber took the lead in the dressage and held onto the top spot throughout the weekend. Dutch driver Koos de Ronde was runner-up, ahead of Vecsés-organizer József Dobrovitz, but it was the home side Hungary that won the nations competition, ahead of The Netherlands and Germany.

Birthday present
Chester Weber celebrated his 36th birthday on 3 June with the victory in the dressage competition at Vecsés. The five O-judges, chaired by Dr Franz-Josef Vetter from Germany, were impressed and unanimously awarded Weber’s test first place. Chester used Jane F. Clark’ s two KWPN-geldings Uniek and Splash, which previously formed the pair of US pair driver Keady Cadwell. Before the dressage, Chester had some discussions with his trainer Michael Freund about whether or not to use the new horses at Vecsés, but Chester decided he had to try them somewhere. Chester got his way; the team went beautifully and put down a fantastic performance. József Dobrovitz came second in the dressage, ahead of Zoltán Lázár.

Marathon heat
The marathon was won by Werner Ulrich of Switzerland. Ulrich drove his team of three Lusitanian horses and a Swiss-bred gelding very fast through the eight difficult obstacles, designed by Gabor Fintha from Hungary. The thermometer at the start of the marathon indicated no less than 39 degrees Celsius, but the Portuguese Lusitanian horses proved that they are used to the heat and took Ulrich into first place. Koos de Ronde had to take an extra loop in the last obstacle which cost him precious seconds and the victory in this exciting phase. Zoltán Lázár finished third in the marathon. Weber was further down the order in sixth, but still held onto the overall lead going into the cones.

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