The Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of London produced the sort of finish that makes stopwatches feel indecently important: Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 beat Scott Brash and Hello Folie by 0.18 seconds at Royal Hospital Chelsea, giving the German rider a second consecutive victory in the British capital and the €1 million prize.
Fourteen clears turn London into a sprint
The 1.60m first round barely thinned the field. Fourteen combinations went clear, leaving a sold-out crowd with a jump-off that was less a decider than an ambush.
Pieter Devos and Primo DV were out after an unexpected dismount, while Ben Maher and Point Break finished with a single rail. Victor Bettendorf and OwandO van de Rispen recorded the fastest four-fault first round in 72.77 seconds and still missed the decider.
Maximilian Weishaupt and Zuccero HV set the first double-clear benchmark in 43.75 seconds before Sandra Auffarth and Quirici H trimmed it to 43.47. Useful times. Not safe ones.
Harry Charles gives London something to shout about
Harry Charles then put Balypatric Tiberius, making his first CSI5* Grand Prix appearance, into the lead with a clear 43.29 seconds. Royal Hospital Chelsea is hardly a quiet room in which to learn the furniture.
Charles said: “Pretty amazing. It was a great effort from the whole team. In our first five-star Grand Prix and jump-off, it’s not really the preferred place to do it, but I think that makes it even more impressive.”
He added: “I didn’t have the best draw, so we kind of had to go from the start. Sandra, who was in front at the time, was already really quick, and I just kind of let it off. Not every day you’re going to jump for one million quid!”
Scott Brash sets the target — then loses it by 0.18
Scott Brash and Hello Folie gave the grandstands the round they had been waiting for. He cut almost a second from Charles’s time, going clear in 42.32. Britain held first and second, and for a moment the script had the neatness of something written in advance.
Kukuk declined to read it.
Brash later said: “I’m absolutely delighted with her. She was absolutely exceptional today and, yeah, there’s nothing in it. We were beaten by a very experienced combination, so I can’t complain. Of course, it would be amazing to have a win here, but I’m delighted with the horse. She’s wonderful. She loves going against the clock, so you just have to ask her what to do and she says yes. She’s got her eyes on the fences for you and, yeah, she’s a joy to ride in a jump-off.”
On the home support, he added: “I love, love, love when they get behind us. You just always want to deliver for them. Not quite today, but we’ve given them something to cheer about, and Harry was also fantastic. It was a good day, a good weekend.”
As for 14 riders making the jump-off, Brash supplied the afternoon’s driest assessment: “Maybe you could say too many! It was still a big course. It just shows the standard here.”
Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 find the missing fraction
Kukuk and Checker 47, winners here 12 months earlier, entered with Brash’s 42.32 seconds on the board. They needed a round with very little wasted motion and even less sentiment.
They finished clear in 42.14 seconds. Edwina Tops-Alexander, Maikel van der Vleuten and Christian Ahlmann all followed with clears, but none displaced Kukuk. Ahlmann, last to go, crossed in 43.81, confirming the back-to-back victory.
Kukuk said: “I’m so, so, so happy. I won it last year and it’s always a special thing if you win back-to-back. Honestly, it was a bit of the same situation as last year. I saw Scott and I knew again: I have to go.
These are the moments where this horse is just outstanding and special, because he can kind of smell it and feel it, and then he just does things that are outstanding. I think the way that I rode to the last was unreal, that he was still able to jump it. That’s why he’s one of the best horses in the world.
To be back at this incredible venue, to take the win here the history the crowd it really couldn’t get better.”
A London win with Prague consequences
The victory also secured Kukuk a place in the Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix at the GC Prague Playoffs.
“We finished third in Riesnebeck and I was already looking to Victor up there, and I thought it would be nice to have that ticket again this year. We have that in the pocket now, which on top of the win here today is a very, very nice thing.”
After Stage 10, Abdel Saïd leads the Championship on 200 points, ahead of Edwina Tops-Alexander on 168.67, Max Kühner on 159, Christian Ahlmann on 151 and Scott Brash on 147. The Tour moves to the Longines Tops International Arena in Valkenswaard from 4–6 September.
London gave the home crowd two riders on the podium. Kukuk, rather inconveniently for them, had the fastest horse and 0.18 seconds to spare.
