Boyd_Exell

Boyd Exell

Boyd Exell

Australian competition carriage driver

Boyd Exell (born July 29, 1972, in Bega) is an Australian horse driver, trainer, judge and horse owner who specializes in combined driving with four-in-hand teams. He has won the World Cup indoor driving finals ten times, and won six world champion titles during his career. As of May 2024, Exell is ranked #1 in the world for his sport. Exell travels to Australia, the US and around Europe holding events to train drivers.[3][4][5] Since 2015, he has been stationed in the Netherlands after spending 20 years in the UK.[6][7]

Quick Facts Personal information, Born ...

Personal life

Boyd Exell was born July 29, 1972 in Bega, Australia[8] where he and his two brothers and a sister were raised. His father was a civil engineer and his mother a schoolteacher. Boyd had always loved horses, and he and his brother Kent learned to drive horses early on and competed as young boys. At 16, Boyd started to compete seriously in carriage driving competitions in Australia and won the Australian National Championships with a Hackney Pony team. As a backup to a career with horses and pressure from his mother, he completed an apprenticeship with a local engineering firm.[9][10][11]

When he was 21, he travelled to the United States and eventually settled in England to learn more about horse sports and carriage driving. He stayed in England for 20 years before moving to Valkenswaard, Netherlands in 2015. Exell is married to Preetha and has two children James and Olivia. Exell enjoys boating and water skiing.[12][13][10][9]

Career

Along with competing in four-in-hand driving sports, Exell has been active in breaking, training, buying and selling horses. Much of his time has been spent training drivers in America and across Europe, and he has sought talented drivers to mentor. He has provided horses and carriages for weddings and funerals, and driven coaches for sponsors and owners.[10][11]

The nice thing about carriage driving is that we can host our sponsors and owners and we can take them to Royal Ascot on a coach (an English Park Drag) with a team of horses. We can take 10 to 12 guests and we can have three days of racing. We set off from the Royal Mews in Windsor Castle, head down through Windsor Great Park, spend the day racing, have lunch and take the guests home. That is one of the upsides of driving, to be able to host your owners and your sponsors in that way.

— Boyd Exell (2020) [11]

Exell was a judge for the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) from 2010 to 2020, and Deputy Chair of the FEI Driving Committee from 2012 to 2014.[14][1][15]

Annually, he hosts the Driving Valkenswaard International combined driving competition at his farm in the Netherlands.[11]

Competitions

Boyd Exell in action, 2014 World Cup

Boyd Exell became the individual world champion for the first time at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. He was able to repeat this success at the 2012 World Championships in Germany with the same team.[2][10]

In August 2013, Exell's top horse died. Bill 22 was a brown Orlov Trotter born in 1992. He had reached the age of 21 and was considered the fastest four-in-hand leader (front horse) in the world at the time. Boyd Exell's success story began in 2008 with Bill 22, winning a bronze medal at the World Championships in the Netherlands. Together they won four World Cup Finals in a row, from 2009 to 2012. In 2013, Exell placed second in the World Cup Finals in France with Bill 22 in the team. Boyd had taken over Bill 22 from driver Michael Freund [de; fr] in 2007, with whom he had won five World Cup Finals starting with a 2002 victory in Sweden.[2][16][17]

In 2014, Exell won the title of individual world champion at the World Equestrian Games in France. In 2016 he became the individual world champion again in the Netherlands. In 2018 he defended his world championship title again in North Carolina, and in Italy in 2022.[2]

In 2023, Boyd Exell won his 10th World Cup Finals.[18] At his prior win, the last qualifier before the Finals competition, the announcer declared Exell "number one in the world, more titles than any other driver in history."[19]

Wins

Boyd Exell has won 75% of his FEI competitions, with 158 wins out of 212 starts,[20][lower-alpha 1] and as of May 2024 is ranked #1 in the world for his sport.[20] He won the world championship competitions in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2022, and placed third in 2008.[2] Ten times he has won the World Cup indoor driving competition (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2023) and placed second 3 times (2013, 2016, 2022).[2]

Exell was eight times British National Champion,[10] and he has won the driving competition at CHIO Aachen eleven times (2003, 2009-2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023).[21]

Accolades

Boyd Exell was awarded an Order of Australia in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours list for services to equestrian sports.[15] In 2017, Boyd Exell was inducted into the Equestrian Australia Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements in carriage driving.[22] Equestrian Australia named him the International Athlete of the Year in 2010, 2013 2014, 2015, and 2016.[12][23] In 2015, the FEI honored Exell with the Reem Acra Best Athlete award.[14][24]

In 2014, his team of horses was named IRT International Horse of the Year. The team of five geldings were aged 7 to 20 years old; two were Dutch Warmbloods (KWPN).[25]

"It's hard to find reliable leaders[lower-alpha 2] who are honest and forward. Horses at the back need to be honest, reliable powerful and hard-working – but the ones at the front that need to be brave and independent are harder to get... chasing the perfect team is like chasing the pot of the gold at the end of the rainbow." —Boyd Exell [4]

As of May 2024, FEI ranked Boyd Exell number 1 worldwide for Driving World Cup Standings, Driving World Cup Qualification Standings, and Driving World Ranking - Four-in-Hand.[20]

Notes

  1. Statistics counted from January 2010 to May 2023 only.
  2. "Leaders" are the two horses at the front of a team of four. The two horses at the rear are called "wheelers".

References

  1. [1]
    "Person detail - Boyd Exell (AUS)". FEI. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  2. [2]
    "Athlete performance - Boyd Exell". FEI. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  3. [3]
    Phelps, Mary (February 2018). "Top Teaching Takeaways and Videos From Combined Driving World Champion Boyd Exell". horsedaily.com. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  4. [4]
    "Boyd Exell's Champagne Campaign". EQ Life. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  5. [5]
    "Training". boydexell.com. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  6. [6]
    FEI World Cup Driving Final 2015 - Bordeaux - Boyd Exell (Interview). FEI. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  7. [7]
    "Facilities". boydexell.com. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  8. [8]
    "Boyd Exell". Equestrian Australia. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  9. [9]
    Exclusive Interview with Driving World Champion Boyd Exell (video). Equestrian Australia. 29 January 2018. (part 2)
  10. [10]
    Stafford, Chris. "Boyd Exell's Excellent Adventure". Equestrian Life. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  11. [11]
    "The Secret to Boyd Exell's Success". Horse Deals magazine. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  12. [12]
    "Hall of Fame - Boyd Exell". Equestrian Australia. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  13. [13]
    Pasto, Kirsty (10 February 2020). "Boyd Exell Regains His Crown With Ninth FEI Driving World Cup Final Championship Win".
  14. [14]
    Floyd, Noëlle (13 November 2015). "Show Jumper Jessica Mendoza Among Winners at 2015 FEI Awards". Noëlle Floyd. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  15. [15]
    "Queen's Birthday Honours for Boyd Exell". British Carriage Driving News. 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  16. [16]
    "Exells Spitzenpferd Bill 22 verstorben" [Exell's top horse Bill 22 died]. hoefnet.nl (in Dutch). 21 August 2013.
  17. [17]
    "Boyd Exell's Bill Passes Away". equestrianlife.com.au.
  18. [18]
    Dance, Sarah (8 February 2023). "Boyd Exell gallops to 10th World Cup driving title". Horsetalk.co.nz.
  19. [19]
    Kidman, John (27 January 2023). "The unknown Aussie who can't stop winning". Perth Now.
  20. [20]
    "Athlete - Boyd Exell - Australia". FEI. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  21. [21]
    "Boyd Exell reigns at Aachen". Equestrian life. July 2023.
  22. [22]
    McMaster, Jacob (27 March 2017). "Exell, Beresford named Australia's best". Bega District News. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  23. [23]
    "Equestrian Australia is proud to announce the winners of its annual Sport Achievement Awards". Equestrian Australia. 7 May 2014.
  24. [24]
    Etchells, Daniel (14 November 2015). "Australian Exell crowned Reem Acra Best Athlete at 2015 International Equestrian Federation Awards". Inside the Games.
  25. [25]
    "IRT International Horse of the Year". Equestrian Australia. 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
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