December 2, 2023 
Four-in-hand teams don’t have official team names. But if they did, we’d dub Bram Chardon’s White Lightning.
They’re deadly fast, explosive through the cones and like homemade hooch, they get the job done.
The Dutch driver collected his first win of the 2023/34 FEI Driving World Cup™ season at the Sweden International Horse Show on Saturday. Pitted against world no. 1 Boyd Exell of Australia, Germany’s Michael Brauchle and Mareike Harm, Belgium’s Glenn Geerts and Sweden’s Fredrik Persson, the contest wasn’t even close in leg four of the series.
Chardon was fault-free and nearly seven seconds fastest in the first round. In the drive off, he crossed the timers in 151.01 seconds, almost nine seconds quicker than Brauchle (160.29). Exell took third in 160.85 after knocking two balls on course.
The world no. 3 won the two World Cup Finals (2019 & 2022) since moving into the CAI-W ranks in 2018 and is the reigning team and individual European Champion.
Now with 10 points, Chardon sits in sixth in the World Cup standings. Ten-time World Cup champion Exell leads the standings with 25 points. Brauchle is second on 17 points and Chardon’s father, Ijsbrand, is third with 14 points.
With four legs remaining, the FEI Driving World Cup next heads to Geneva, December 9 & 10. The Driving World Cup Final with be held in Bordeaux, France February 1–4, 2024.
