Reigning World Champion Boyd Exell will come to Jumping Indoor Maastricht. The Australian driver is looking forward to the exciting competition in the MECC. “I have never been there, but I have heard good things. It is good that there is again a World Cup qualifier in the Netherlands. There are so many good drivers in the Netherlands.” The sevenfold World Cup champion (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 en 2017) likes the intense competition in the indoor World Cup qualifiers. “The speed, the stirring music, I like it and it is pure entertainment for the public. It is a great promotion for our sport.”

Boyd was born on 29 July 1972 in Bega, Australia. His parents were not involved in horses, but when he was eight years old he went to a friend of one his mother’s colleagues stable. It was a bit of a disappointment at first as he thought he was going to ride a horse, but this friend had carriage horses. So that is what he did and when he was only 16 years old he won the Australian Championships for Pairs. He moved to England when he was 21 years old where he continued his driving career. In addition he rode hunters together with his wife Preetha, who was an eventer.

Now Boyd is the man to beat at international competitions and championships. “I could not do this without the support of my wife Preetha and my children James and Olivia. Preetha is a star in training the young horses.”

De World Cup competition in Maastricht will be held on Friday and Saturday evening.

(Photo: HippoFoto/Dirk Caremans)