Lexington, KY - U.S. Drivers Chester Weber and Tucker Johnson prepared for September's World Championships with solid performances at the prestigious CHIO
Chester Weber's Second Place Team (Andres Steindl)
Weber and Tucker sit in second and fourth individually after the marathon and lie second, on a score of 296.81, less than a point behind The Netherlands (296.23), in the team portion of the competition.
Weber, from Ocala, FL, has a two-day score of 144.64 which leaves him just behind Ijsbrand Chardon from The Netherlands who is the overnight leader with a score of 139.74. Johnson's score of 152.17 leaves him fourth individually going into tomorrow's cones competition.
“My horses went well,” said Weber after the marathon. “I went very early in the day and I had a pretty good round. There was a long break between when we finished the walk section, there was another kilometer after it was through and I think the horses thought they were done – they were walking like they were walking back to the stable. I think that was little challenging for them.”
The current USEF National Champion knows that there are things to improve before the World Championships in Beesdt, The Netherlands September 3-7 but was pleased with today’s effort and feels confident going into the final phase.
“Tucker and I have a couple kinks to work out,“ said Weber. “We are a little bit of nothing behind the Dutch. We are going to put a little pressure on them and see if we can get this won. My hope is to go for a clear round. I feel good about my cones driving right now. The time allowed typically is very tight in these courses. We will see what happens tomorrow, there are no guarantees but I’m going to drive to win this thing tomorrow.”
Johnson, who has competed very lightly since the 2006 World Equestrian Games, was happy with his team's performance and learned what he needs to improve before the World Championships
“I made a few little mistakes,” said Johnson who lives in Hobe Sound, FL. “I found a few things to adjust. We are very pleased with the team result. It was a good first international outing for us. All the hazards except for one were pretty technical but none wildly difficult. I had a couple of mistakes, I had to circle at one point which cost quite a bit of time.”
Johnson is confident that the competition in The Netherlands for the World Championships will be no tougher than it is at Aachen.
“This is a pretty competitive group,” said Johnson.
Team Coach, Michael Freund, was pleased with the performance of the two drivers and hopes that putting some pressure on the Dutch will mean a win for the Americans on Sunday.
“The two Florida boys were not so bad today and we hope to win the Nations Cup tomorrow,” said Freund.
The Cones portion gets underway at 11 a.m. local time in Germany.
For more information please contact Joanie Morris at [email protected]. For complete results please see www.chioaachen.de.