The six time FEI World Cup champion went into the second round with an advantage of more than 19 seconds on József Dobrovitz Sr of Hungary, and passed the finish line with an even greater lead, taking first place with a time of 246.03 seconds.

József Dobrovitz Jr finished in third place on 284.67sec, only 1.5 seconds behind his father who claimed second place with a time of 283.17sec.

World Cup debutante Edouard Simonet of Belgium finished in fourth place on 154.80sec, ahead of wild card and home favourite Fredrik Persson who recorded a time of 156.17sec.

The enthusiastic spectators in the Friends Arena cheered the six drivers in the technical course, laid out by Sweden’s level three course Designer Dan Henriksson.

Both round times were added together but Exell was the only one who drove a clear round while a single penalty in the second did not endanger his leading position at all.

"My horses were very excited when they came from the warm up arena into the main arena," said Exell.

"I tried to slow them down, but they wouldn’t let me, so I just went very fast.

"In the second round again, their rhythm was excellent and I decided to go with the team."

József Dobrovitz and his son both started their World Cup campaigns in Stockholm and the older competitor was content with his performance.

"I was very pleased with my horses, but I made a mistake myself," said Dobrovitz Sr.

"I missed a gate in the first marathon obstacle, which cost me much time."

After the opening two rounds of the World Cup, Exell leads the standings on 17 points while defending champion Ijsbrand Chardon of The Netherlands sits in second on 10.

Dobrovitz Sr completes the top three with a score of seven.

The next leg of the World Cup is set to take place in Budapest in Hungary between December 3 and 4.