Wellington, Fla.—Jan. 25

When Christian Kukuk first rode into the International Ring at the Winter Equestrian Festival in March 2024, he was largely unknown to local fans. What a difference a year makes.

Last year, while he’d picked up wins on the Longines Global Champions Tour and was part of the gold-medal German team at the Longines FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona in 2023, he’d never shown on U.S. soil. He was only in Florida for two weeks last year, having traveled from Europe to represent Germany in the Longines League Of Nations Ocala (Florida). He decided to stay an extra week and make the trip south to Wellington and compete in the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix.

He left that show victorious with his longtime partner Checker 47—a win he described as transformative.

“I still really remember that night here in March last year,” he said. “It was really one of my best nights I ever had, and best wins.”

This time when he entered the International Ring, he entered as an Olympic gold medalist, making him an instant crowd favorite—even for the casual show jumping fan who attends the show’s Saturday Night Lights.

He had quite the challenge in front of him in the $215,000 NetJets Grand Prix CSI4*. The 45 entries in the class included Ben Maher, who also holds the title of Olympic champion from 2021, plus two team golds; Laura Kraut, who holds an impressive set of hardware from Olympics and world championships; and perhaps most formidable: Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann, who has been World No. 1 since July 2022, riding his double Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final winner King Edward.

Kukuk also had the unenviable starting position of third in the original order, and as the first clear, would be the first to contest the jump-off, which ultimately included seven horses. And while von Eckermann didn’t make the jump-off, there were several quick riders to be concerned about, including Maher, Ireland’s Darrah Kenny and U.S. rider Brian Moggre.

Kukuk admitted that he didn’t walk the jump-off because it involved a lot of long lines rather than tight turns, so he relied on “Checker’s” speed.

Watch their winning jump-off round, courtesy of ShowGroundsLive.com:

“I know that he’s naturally anyway, very quick, even if I probably have [to take] a stride more than the other ones, so I try to keep the turns tight and the pace good,” he said. “Actually, it worked out very, very well. I was quick everywhere, and when I passed the finish line, I knew that the rest was a bit under pressure and that they had to try.

“You never know, as first to go, especially with Ben and Darragh in the very end to come,” he continued. “They could see all the other ones, and they actually could plan their jump-off a bit better than me, but it worked out today, so I’m very happy.”

Kukuk needn’t have worried though, as his time of 37.56 seconds couldn’t be topped, making him and Checker two-for-two in WEF grand prix classes.

“For whatever reason, he really likes it here,” he said of M.H & Partner Gbr and Madeleine Winter-Schulze’s 15-year-old Westphalian (Comme Il Faut 5—Pamina, Come On) bred by Wolfgang Kipp. “I have the feeling always when I go on the ring—he has a special kind of adrenaline when he comes in here. He [always] has that, but I have to say he likes the Saturday night classes here. There’s many weeks ahead of us, but to have a good start is never wrong. That gives both of us a good self-confidence for the next week.

While Kukuk might be pleased with his decision to come to Florida for the winter season, Maher is less excited. He finished second with Enjeu De Grisien, with a time of 39.29 seconds.

“I think the experience of Christian with that horse and the smooth turn back to the NetJets jump there [at 8], I would have had to take unrealistic risk to be able to beat him at the end of the course today,” Maher said. “So I’m not so happy he’s here in Wellington, but I’m sure everybody else is.”

Maher has had the ride on Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright’s 11-year-old Selle Français gelding (Toulon—Nobless Des Fontaines, Andiamo), bred by S.C.E.A. Elevage De Grisien for four years, and he admitted early on in their partnership that he wondered whether he was the right person to ride the gelding.

“[He] has a lot of energy, and he doesn’t regulate his stride very well,” he said. “For a small horse [his stride] is very big, and he doesn’t want to go small; he just wants to go big. So the 8-year-old year was very difficult, but he really came through. He’s won some good grand prix in small rings and big arenas already.”

“Enjeu” won a grand prix at WEF last year, but it came at the expense of brakes, as Maher said he spent the rest of the circuit getting run off with, but thanks to a bridle change, he feels they’re now able to build more for the future.

“I felt that he jumped amazing,” Maher said. “On any horse it was difficult to beat Christian today, with the round that he’d done. So I really felt that he jumped amazing, and I left something in for future competitions.”

Coming in third was French rider Nina Mallevaey on Dynastie De Beaufour in 39.67 seconds. She’s been paired with the 12-year-old Selle Français (Diamant De Semilly—Sophia Di San Giovanni, Cassini) owned by Tara Dow-Rein and the Rein Family LLC for 10 months, and the pair began contesting five-star classes last summer.

“She’s been really good,” Mallevaey said. “Last year was her first five-star season, and she’s been amazing. She didn’t miss anything the whole year. Really grateful to have a horse like her, and I hope to make more good results, and maybe think about some championships with her. So I’m looking forward to good preparation here during the winter and see how it goes.”

Results.