Christian Kukuk wins Longines World Champions Tour of London

Reigning Olympic champions Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 got here to London on “firey” kind and celebrated the anniversary of their Paris triumph with a victory within the €165,000 Longines World Champions Tour grand prix on Sunday 10 August.

Hopes of a seventh British win have been hovering when Ben Maher laid down a poetically fluid spherical on Level Break, that axed an intimidating 6sec from the main clear, from Belgian’s Niels Bruynseels (Chacco’s Lando OL).

However whereas Ben’s spherical was like mercury poured down a maze, Christian’s scythed the traces with mathematical precision, and the good 15-year-old gray used his superior scope to come back house with 0.38sec in hand.

“Now I see the playback [see video below], it was most likely a once-in-a-lifetime leap off,” Christian stated. “I turned to the third final vertical and the second I made a decision to do it, I instructed myself for a second ‘you may’t’. I used to be on a lot of an angle, the way in which he jumped it — I consider all of the horses on the planet, solely Checker may cope with this example. And it’s the place I gained the leap off no query.

“He’s naturally a fast horse however the spherical from Ben was so quick, I knew it needed to be the spherical of a lifetime at the moment to beat him.”

Christian Kukuk:“Emotionally, it was a tough few weeks”

The win got here every week after Christian introduced a brand new chapter in his profession, establishing on his personal after 13 years primarily based with Ludger Beerbaum.

“Emotionally, it was a tough few weeks,” he stated.

Ben had his personal gremlins to wrestle with, having taken some danger methods that didn’t come to fruition with Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright’s 11-year-old, together with on this 12 months’s Rolex grand prix at Royal Windsor.

“I knew I’d tousled a few jump-offs on him attempting to do issues that maybe weren’t enjoying to my strengths, so I knew I needed to take quite a lot of dangers at the moment but it surely was calculated danger,” he stated.

“If I attempt to push him out of his rhythm he doesn’t prefer it in the mean time however I believe it’s going to come a bit later. Fortunately he’s like a rubber ball, and he can flip, so I attempt to play to his strengths.”

His spherical was close to perfection — and will have been unbeatable, had it not been for a heavy slip after the second fence.

“I don’t say it fairly often, however as a rider I don’t assume I may have executed something in a different way,” he stated. “Once I turned again, I noticed one much less stride to the double however as I went to step away he misplaced his footing behind, which was fairly important, having watched the replay.

“I needed to alter the road and jog out to the correct hand aspect, which was time consuming however I don’t assume it was jumpable on what I used to be dedicated to earlier than the slip.”

Final 12 months’s victors within the Longines World Champions Tour of London, Harry Charles and Sherlock have been the one different Brits to hitch Ben within the jump-off, they usually tipped the penultimate oxer, crossing the road greater than 4sec behind the successful tempo for ninth.

You may learn the complete report from the Longines World Champions Tour of London in subsequent week’s Horse & Hound journal, within the outlets Thursday 14 August.

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H&H showjumping editor

Jennifer is passionate at showjumping and her function as H&H’s showjumping editor has taken her all over the world reporting from exhibits and interviewing riders, connections and people concerned behind the scenes. Since becoming a member of H&H from BBC Sport in 2005, she has written on each topic throughout the equestrian sphere — from turnout rugs to secure administration — and has interviewed gold medallists, world champions and winners galore. She additionally has first-hand expertise of working within the equestrian business as a using teacher and yard supervisor.