Germany’s Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 clinched a win in the $500,000 Rolex CSI5* Grand Prix during the final Saturday Night Lights of the Winter Equestrian Festival’s 2024 season on Saturday, March 30.
From final draw, Kukuk made his Wellington debut a winning one in the last of a 12-week run of FEI competitions in front of a sold-out crowd at Wellington International.
“I had goosebumps after that last fence,” Kukuk said. “It’s an incredible feeling. I had only heard about Wellington and the Rolex week before this. I brought my two best horses, and everything went exactly how I wanted.”
After finishing the runner-up in the qualifier earlier in the week on Mumbai, Kukuk piloted 14-year-old Westphalian gelding Checker 47, owned by M.H. & Partner GBR, to top call in his first-ever Rolex Grand Prix win.
“These [Rolex classes] are the best Grand Prix events in the year. We all know that, and we all work for them in the end,” Kukuk said. “This crowd and this stadium are special. To be last to go and win is an incredible feeling.”
The evening’s courses were designed by Guilherme Jorge, who has been named as the jumping technical delegate for the Paris Olympics this summer. Kukuk tackled the jump-off track with the foot speed of Checker 47, his winning mount from the 2023 FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona, to unseat current leader and local crowd favorite McLain Ward.
“The pressure was a bit on, and I could feel it in the warm-up, but I need that, to be honest,” said Kukuk, who posted a time of 35.82 seconds over Ward’s 36.24 seconds. “I knew I could not do the same strides [as Ward], but I could try to turn a bit tighter after the double, and that worked very well. When I landed, I knew I could be close, so I tried everything I could and left one out to the last.”
Ward introduced a new mount, Ilex, to the bright lights of Wellington International. The 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding that Ward owns together with Bonne Chance Farm is the former mount of Brazil’s Fabio Leivas da Costa.
“I didn’t leave much on the table,” said Ward, a two-time U.S. Olympic team gold medalist. “I started riding this horse seven weeks ago, and tonight I had a good feeling of putting the pieces together. I haven’t jumped him off before, but I knew we had a big stride, and he’s very honest. He bucked a little after the double, and I think I lost a touch of time there.”
Ward enjoys jumping in front of the crowd at Saturday Night Lights.
“Show jumping is a real passion here, and there’s a great following,” he said. “These Rolex Grand Prix events are a notch above everything else in the world and are events that all the top riders aim for. It was great sport for great sporting fans.”
Karl Cook capped the podium aboard Kalinka van’t Zorgvliet, a 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare owned by Helen Signe Ostby. Cook’s early clear set a pace of 36.62 seconds, which ultimately landed him third.
“She has been energetic since day one, and I think there’s something about her where she knows what the event is,” said Cook of Kalinka rising to the five-star occasion. “You can feel her energy when she’s in classes like this with the crowd and atmosphere; she gets better in it. I’ve shown up here the second half [of the season], and it has worked. Last year, I was fourth in this class, and this year, I’m third. I am happy with that, and it was an unbelievable class.”
To close the evening, Checker 47’s caretaker Sofie Karlsson was honored with the $500 Grooms Award, presented by Double H Farm’s Quentin Judge and Cayce Harrison.
