Lexington, KY – The 2011 U.S. National Four-In-Hand Championship was contested over the weekend in Kennett Square, PA, at the 25th annual Laurels at Landhope International Combined Driving Event, one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the U.S.
The 2011 U.S. National Four-In-Hand Championship included four entries in the Four-in- Hand division – three Americans, Chester Weber, James Fairclough and Josh Rector, who vied for the National title, and one Canadian, Eugen Hug.
Competitors took to the soggy, post-Tropical Storm Lee dressage arenas on Friday, with Chester Weber of Ocala, FL, getting off to an early lead with a picture-perfect dressage test with a score of 39.04, putting him up by a margin of eight points over Fairclough.
But Fairclough took the lead on Saturday during the Marathon when Weber made an uncharacteristic mistake, going the wrong way through a gate in the third hazard to put him a little under eight points behind Fairclough as they headed into Sunday’s Cones phase. It wasn’t clear sailing for Fairclough either as he had a glitch in the water hazard causing his team to take some stutter steps. “My whip got caught,” he said. “It cost me four or five seconds.”
Weber was disappointed with the Marathon but blamed no one but himself. “I had a gate backward in hazard No. 3,” he said. “We walked it that way. It was just a mistake and I have nothing to say except it was inexcusable.” He was very pleased with how well his horses went. “I thought the course was very heavy-going,” he said. “It was terribly hot and the whole Section E, you could be going downhill and the horses had to pull.”