Aachen, Germany - Chester Weber (Ocala, Fla.) and his team of First Edition, Julius V, Kadora, and Kasper D, drove to an impressive win in the driving phase of the CAIO-4* at CHIO Aachen finishing the first phase of competition on a score of 38.85. The win marks another top performance Weber has achieved at Aachen throughout the years. The team finished atop the podium in a field of 25 entries.

Weber has been a mainstay at CHIO Aachen for the U.S. Driving program, having competed at the venue in four-in-hand competition since 2002, and has won the dressage phase several times over the years. With the familiarity of the arena and venue, the competition is still a highlight for Weber and team and make it their goal every year to produce top performances across the phases and to make their supporters and team proud.

“We have a great team behind us doing the fundamental work with our horses. Sure, I’m the lucky guy who gets to hold the reins and accept a little bit of pressure for it in that sense, but it’s not without the tremendous efforts of our coaches and trainers, like Anne Gribbons on the dressage, our farriers, vets, our in-house team – it’s just a wonderful group of people to work with that all make this kind of thing happen. This wouldn’t be possible without the support of the USEF and USET Foundation, and all of the U.S. supporters here. It’s exciting to listen to the national anthem for them too.”

The team was beautifully turned out and produced excellent work in the arena throughout their test. They overcame an early mistake in the first extended trot to rocket up the leaderboard after drawing to go midway through the class order. The team, who is just coming into their own, with three new young members making a debut, operates like a well-oiled machine with Weber driving from the carriage. The dressage phase is always a strong phase for the team and Weber was thrilled with their results so far this season, especially given how naturally it has come to this talented foursome.

“The horses are really in form. They’re quite young but are really coming into themselves. There are three horses in our group that are under the age of ten, which is young, especially in dressage. We’ve been building for this and I’m really proud of them and everything they achieved here today,” said Weber. “It’s humbling to sit behind them when you have performances like this. They have a lot of quality and we’ve had most of them since they were three and four years old, so we’ve produced them in the States and bring them to Europe and really be competitive.

The team will continue their quest to finish atop the podium after the remaining two phases. Marathon will begin at 2:00 p.m. GMT/8:00 a.m. EST on Saturday, July 1, with cones concluded competition on Sunday, July 2 at 10:00 a.m. GMT/4:00 a.m. EST.

Schedule
Results
Watch

Follow US Equestrian
Stay up to date on the Land Rover U.S. Driving Team by following USA Driving on Facebook and US Equestrian on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Use #USADriving.

The USEF International High Performance Programs and the USEF High Performance Pathway Programs are generously supported by the USET Foundation, the philanthropic partner to USEF. High Performance Program support is also provided by the USOPC and USEF sponsors and members.