Familiar faces will lead the United States charge in four-in-hand driving at this year’s World Equestrian Games. Four years ago Chester Weber, Tucker Johnson and James Fairclough brought home historic team silver at the WEG, winning the first U.S. World Championship four-in-hand medal.

And those three are the most likely candidates for this year’s WEG. It’s anybody’s guess whether or not they can repeat their medal of 2002, since world-class driving is governed by fractions of points and the top drivers are all very close.

Weber, who finished fifth individually at the last WEG, has had a strong season in 2006. This young driver, who only switched to four-in-hand driving in 1999, started his spring with a win at the Ocala (Fla.) CAI in March. He went on to place seventh individually at Aachen (Germany) in May and third at L�hden (Germany) in June.

The reigning National Champion can be counted on to put in a strong dressage test with his team of Dutch Warmbloods. However, he’ll need a fast marathon and a flawless cones round to earn an individual medal.

This will be Johnson’s fifth World Four-In-Hand Championship. He finished fourth individually in 2002 and should be near the top of the leader board after dressage. He placed second after that phase at the Aachen CHIO in May, but is still working on improving his speed and accuracy to score that all-important zero in the cones phase.

Johnson placed 12th at Aachen, finished second to Weber in Ocala and also placed sixth at L�hden. He stands 31st in the World Four-In-Hand Top Driver Award rankings.

Jimmy Fairclough has been a member of the World Championship team since 1980, and his wealth of experience is an asset in a sport where 20 years of competition is only the beginning.

He placed third in Ocala and finished 26th at the CAIO Breda (the Netherlands) in the beginning of July with his team of warmbloods.

Newcomer Jim Richards is another possibility for the team. Although he’s still a bit green, Richards is improving quickly and is hungry to ascend the ranks.

Team Members
Jamaica: b. g., 15, Dutch Warmblood (Cambridge Cole S974–Welkom), owned by driver.
Grumus: b. g., 9, International Heavy Warmblood (Grusus–Ofraah), owned by driver.
Rolex W: b. g., 9, Dutch Warmblood (Larix–Dorena), owned by driver.
Snoopy: b. g., 6, Danish Warmblood (Royal Z–Lady 8503480 DK LU), owned by driver.
Senate: b. g., 6, Dutch Warmblood (Balmoral–Emka) owned by driver.
CHESTER WEBER: age 31, Ocala, Fla.

Angelo 257: blk. g., 9, Hanoverian, owned by driver.
Arivano: blk. g., 14, Holsteiner, owned by driver.
Dexter 154: b. g., 9, Westphalian, owned by driver.
Eminenz 22: b. g., 10, Sachsen Warmblood, owned by driver.
Glorieux Prince: b. g., 8, Sachsen Warmblood, owned by driver.
Jonny 5: b. g., 9, Westphalian, owned by driver and Mr. and Mrs. James Johnson.
Noorman: b. g., 11, Dutch Warmblood, owned by Koos de Ronde and J.J. Snip.
Rotano 2: b. g., 6, Hanoverian, owned by driver.
Spotlight: b. g., 8, Oldenburg, owned by driver and James Johnson.
Williams: blk. g., 9, Oldenburg, owned by Mr. and Mrs. James Johnson.
TUCKER JOHNSON: age 42, Oldwick N.J. and Hobe Sound, Fla.

Baccarat: b. g., 13, Dutch Warmblood, owned by driver.
Charlie Brown: b. g., 8, Holsteiner, owned by Jane Forbes Clark.
Charmeur: b. g., 14, Swedish Warmblood, owned by Jane Forbes Clark.
Cooper: b. g., 12, owned by Jane Forbes Clark.
Fax: b. g., 12, German Warmblood, owned by Steffan Scholtz.
Levin: b. g., 8, Austrian Warmblood, owned by Jane Forbes Clark.
Othello M: b. g., 10, Dutch Warmblood, owned by Jane Forbes Clark.
Kavango V. Falkenstein: b. g., 7, Swiss Warmblood, owned by Jane Forbes Clark.
JAMES FAIRCLOUGH: age 48, Newton, N.J.

BELGIUM

Brasseur Leads The Roster For Belgium
But he’ll need some help for Belgium to duplicate their Nations Cup victory from CHIO Aachen, writes Birgit Popp.

Felix Brasseur is the star of the Belgian four-in-hand team. He was the individual and team World Champion in 1996 and has remained among the world’s best since then.

His preparation has been solid this year–he was on the winning Belgian team at the Nations Cup CHIO Aachen (Germany) in May and was third in the individual combined competition. He stands second on the FEI Four-In-Hand Top Driver Award rankings, behind Werner Ulrich of Switzerland.

Brasseur scored victories in the CAI-A Arraiolos (Portugal) in March and the CAI-A Conty (France) in April.

The base of Brasseur’s success starts with his high-scoring dressage tests; he’s usually among the top three drivers or even leading after dressage. In the marathon, he usually places among the top 10.

Negotiating the cones has cost him medals, however. He won the dressage test and placed third in the marathon in the 2004 World Championships (Hungary), but he placed fourth individually because of 10 penalty points in the cones. Otherwise, he would have won the individual silver medal.

Brasseur did take home team bronze at the 2004 World Championships with Gert Schrijvers and Geert de Brauwer. Both drivers were also his teammates on the winning team at the Aachen CHIO, placing 10th and 23rd, respectively.

De Brauwer also lost ground with a bad cones performance, scoring 21.71 penalty points, but he contributed his marathon result to the team score.

Schrijvers was also on the championship team in 1996. He placed fifth at the CAI-A Laehden (Germany) this spring, while de Brauwer placed 11th in the CAI-A Arriaolos and fourth in the CAI-A Conty.

Dirk Stael, also a successful pairs driver, is another contender for this team; he placed fifth at Conty and ninth at the CAI-A Windsor (Great Britain) in May.

Team Members

FELIX-MARIE BRASSEUR: age 54, Marchin.
Horses: 6- to -11-year-old Lusitanos.

GERT SCHRIJVERS: age 43, Malle.
Horses: 6- to -15-year-old black mares and geldings.

GEERT DE BRAUWER: age 52.
Horses: 9- to -13-year-old gray Lipician geldings and one 17-year-old gray stallion.

DIRK STAEL: age 38, Bruges.

GERMANY

Germany Will Say Goodbye To Freund
It may be a bittersweet competition for the German team, writes Birgit Popp.

If all goes exceptionally well for Michael Freund, the 2006 World Equestrian Games could bring him his third individual World Championship title. He won in 1994 and 2004, as well as earning team gold in ’92 and ’94.

And if Freund wins, he would draw even with Dutch driver Ijsbrand Chardon, who holds the record in individual World Championship titles in four-in-hand driving. But it will be the last chance for Freund, since the German driver will end his nearly 30-year international career as an active driver after the WEG to concentrate on training.

So far, the season has not gone well for him. He placed eighth individually at the CHIO Aachen in May. But the ground was deep in the marathon, so Freund didn’t take risks. Freund did win the combined competition at CAI Laehden (Germany) in June, however.

Freund won the FEI World Cup Final from 2001-2004, but Chardon took the title this year. It seems that Freund is lacking concentration after the upsetting circumstances surrounding his 2004 title win. One of his horses failed a drug test, but Freund was later acquitted. Yet two other drivers are still pressing the issue, which has shown him that friendship and fairness do not go very far among the drivers.

Freund will be accompanied by his proven teammates–Christoph Sandmann and Rainer Duen–with whom he won team bronze in the 2000 and 2002 World Championships. Sandmann was the individual silver medalist at the 2002 WEG in Jerez (Spain), and Duen has been the third team member since 2000.

Duen has a young team this year; three of his Oldenburgs are only 6 or 7 years old, so the Germans may not have their strongest team score at Aachen.

Team Members

MICHAEL FREUND: age 52, Neu-Isenburg.
Horses: 12- to 16-year-old, bay warmblood geldings.

CHRISTOPH SANDMANN: age 39, Laehden.
Horses: 12- to 18-year-old, bay and black warmblood geldings.

RAINER DUEN: age 35, Friesoythe.
Horses: 6- to 13-year-old, bay Oldenburg stallions and geldings.

HUNGARY

Hungary Will Be The Team To Beat
They’re hungry to defend their World Championship title, writes Birgit Popp.

Hungary is the reigning World Championship team and, along with Belgium, is favored to win another team title at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen (Germany). The two teams battled in May at the CHIO Aachen, where Belgium edged Hungary by fewer than 2 points. The WEG is their rematch.

But choosing who will drive for the Hungarian team won’t be easy: The FEI Four-In-Hand Top Driver Award rankings contain nine Hungarian drivers in the top 25! Six Hungarians are in the top 15: József Dobrovitz (third), Attila Bárdos (fourth), Károly Hódy (eighth), László Juhasz (11th), Zoltán Lázár (12th) and József Bozsik (13th).

The team at the CHIO Aachen last May included Bárdos, Dobrovitz and Lázár. The latter two were also members of the 2004 World Championship team, and Lázár took home individual silver in his home country in Kesckemet.

All three drivers are skilled in the three phases, and, as an exclamation point, they all drove clean cones rounds at the Aachen CHIO. There, Lázár was seventh after dressage, second in the marathon and fourth individually. Dobrovitz placed ninth, and Bárdos, the son of five-time World Champion Gyoergy Bárdos, finished 13th.

Dobrovitz was also fourth at the CAI-A Arraiolos (Portugal) at the end of March, plus he achieved three top placings in CAI-As in Hungary throughout the season.

In addition to his Aachen placing, Bárdos currently stands eighth in the Top Driver rankings with good finishes in CAI-As in Hungary. The remaining Hungarian drivers ranked in the top 15 have also registered consistent placings this year.

If one were to handicap the Hungarian team, it’s for their lack of experience outside of Hungary. But, as the CHIO Aachen in May has shown, this may not be a disadvantage for the nation that has dominated four-in-hand driving throughout the ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s.

Over the past 35 years, Hungarian drivers have taken home three team gold medals and five team silvers. In 1984 they were first through third individually, and the World Champion driver has called Hungary home five times.

Team Members
ATTILA BÁRDOS: age 28, T�pi�szentm�rton.
Horses: Hungarian-bred Lipicians.

JÓSZEF BOZSIK: age 54, Sziv�sv�av�rad.
Horses: gray Hungarian-bred Lipicians.

JÓZSEF DOBROVITZ: age 38, Vecs�s.
Horses: gray Hungarian-bred Lipicians.

ZOLTÁN LÁZÁR: age 33, Domonyvoelgy.
Horses: Lipicians and an Orlov Trotter.

SWEDEN

Don’t Count The Swedish Out
They may have struggled at the CHIO Aachen in May, but this team has the experience–and past medals–to rise to the occasion, writes Birgit Popp.

The Swedish team placed a disappointing seventh at the CHIO Aachen (Germany) in May, but there was only a 26-point spread separating them from first place. The top teams have been close in their performances throughout 2006, and the results only prove that all bets are off as to who will triumph at the World Equestrian Games.

Tomas Eriksson placed 15th individually in the Aachen CHIO, with Jan-Eric Pahlsson finishing 16th and Fredrik Persson in 18th. All three team members had 55-point dressage tests and scored between 73 and 80 penalty points in the marathon. Eriksson and Pahlsson had one cone down plus time penalties; only Persson had difficulty in the cones, scoring 21.59 penalties.

The three drivers have competed together as a team since the 1996 World Championships in Belgium, where they placed fourth. Eriksson and his former teacher, Pahlsson, have been teammates since 1984 when they won team silver at the World Championships in Szilvasvarad, Hungary.

The star of the Swedish team is Eriksson, who is also a farrier and a butcher. In 1990 and 2000, Eriksson was the individual and team World Champion. He runs his own 125-acre farm at Bastad, about 60 miles north of Helsingborg in the south of Sweden. He raises crops and cattle.

This same threesome won team bronze at the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Rome, and at the 2004 World Championships in Kesckemet, Hungary, they placed fourth.

Team Members

TOMAS ERIKSSON: age 44, B�stad.
Horses: brown, Swedish Warmblood geldings.

JAN-ERIk PAHLSSON: age 56, Laholm.
Horses: brown, Swedish Warmblood geldings.

FREDRIK PERSSON: age 33, Flyinge.
Horses: brown, Swedish Warmblood geldings.

SWITZERLAND

The Swiss Will Be Disappointed Without Gold
With Werner Ulrich, the world’s top driver, leading the team, the Swiss are ready for the World Championships, writes Birgit Popp.

The Swiss team was in superb form at the CHIO Aachen (Germany) in May, where they placed third. Since 1994, Werner Ulrich and Daniel W�rgler have formed the core of the team, and in ’98 Ulrich was the individual World Champion at the World Equestrian Games in Rome.

Ulrich has also directed the driving department of the National Swiss Equestrian Center at Bern since 2002. Würgler is a haulage contractor, who organizes historical stagecoach trips for tourists over the famous Gotthard Pass in the Swiss Alps. They are joined by young Stefan Kl�y on the Swiss team this year.

Last year Kläy, whose father Hansueli Kläy is also an accomplished four-in-hand driver, had a severe training accident. But with the help of German driver Michael Freund, he’s regained lost ground, although he was only third best for the Swiss in the CHIO Aachen.

The Swiss team is not only aiming for a team medal, but Ulrich’s goal is clearly the individual title. And, so far, his results show that he’s on track. He’s always good for a top dressage result and a clear cones round, and his marathon scores have been consistent the past few years. He won the marathon at Aachen in 2005 and ’06 and had no problem negotiating the deep and muddy footing this year, unlike most of the other drivers.

Ulrich ultimately finished second at Aachen behind Ijsbrand Chardon of the Netherlands. He also placed second at the CAI-A Arraiolos (Portugal) in March and won the CAI-A Vecses (Hungary) in June. He’s currently leading the FEI Four-In-Hand Top Driver Awards standings.

Team Members

Stefan Kläy: age 25, Z�ziwil.
Horses: 11- to 14-year-old, bay Swiss- and German-bred warmblood geldings.

Werner Ulrich: age 47, B�riswil.
Horses: 8- to 13-year-old, bay Swiss-bred warmblood geldings and one Austrian-bred mare.

Daniel Würgler: age 46, Baettwil.
Horses: 6- to 9-year-old, dark brown warmblood geldings.

THE NETHERLANDS

Chardon Should Anchor A Strong Dutch Team
The Netherlands is at the forefront of four-in-hand driving, no matter the challengers, writes Birgit Popp.

Although none of the Dutch drivers are officially named to the World Equestrian Games team, it’s more than likely Ijsbrand Chardon will lead the Dutch charge.

The Dutch team will be finalized after their last trial, which will take place at the CAI-A Beekbergen (the Netherlands), July 27-30.

This three-time individual World Champion is the reigning FEI World Cup champion and won the combined competition at the CHIO Aachen in May–for a remarkable eighth time. In addition to his Aachen accomplishments, he also won the CIA-A Altenfelden (Austria) in mid-June.

Even if some of the horses on his team came up lame, it wouldn’t matter. Chardon has two complete teams at the international level plus the indoor team, which spends the summer at his equestrian center during the outdoor season.

Chardon has been a member of gold-medal winning World Championships teams in 1982, 1986, 1988 and 1998. He won the individual bronze medal at the 2004 World Championships in Kesckemet (Hungary) and earned team silver there with Koos de Ronde and Mark Weusthof.

Things went his way at the CHIO Aachen in May, while Theo Timmermann, in his first Aachen appearance, finished 21st. De Ronde was 24th, both of them placing in all three phases.

The race may still be open for this WEG team, but other than Chardon, de Ronde and Timmer-man, there aren’t many other drivers to consider.

While Chardon is currently in fifth place on the FEI Four-In-Hand Top Driver Award rankings, de Ronde is the next best-placed driver in 31st. He was second at the CAI-A Altenfelden this year. Timmerman is 39th in the rankings, with a fourth-placed performance at CAI-A Laehden (Germany).

Team Members

IJSBRAND CHARDON: age 45, Den Hoorn.
Horses: 11- to 16-year-old, bay Dutch-bred Dutch Warmblood geldings.

KOOS DE RONDE: age 29, Hoogvliet.
Horses: 6- to -11-year-old, chestnut Dutch Warmblood geldings.

THEO TIMMERMAN: age 41, Putten.
Horses: 8- to -10-year-old, bay, mainly Holsteiner geldings.