WELLINGTON — Hours after the birth of his daughter Lila, Christian Kukuk delivered one of the biggest wins of his career.
The reigning Olympic and defending champion from Germany won the much-anticipated $750,000 Rolex U.S. Equestrian Open CSI5 Grand Prix at Wellington International. It was the final "Saturday Night Lights" event of the winter season.
In front of a packed house of more than 10,000 spectators, Kukuk, 35, and his Olympic mount Checker 47, a 15-year-old German-bred Westphalian gelding, won an eight-rider jump-off in 39.20 seconds. He was able to defend his title and win $247,500, the biggest paycheck in only his second season competing at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
"I’m really happy about the win today, but what happened this morning was a little more special," Kukuk said. "All of it together made this day something I will never forget."
Hall of Famer Laura Kraut of Royal Palm Beach and Bisquetta were second in 39.49 ($150,000) and Israel's Ashlee Bond and Donatello 147 were third in 40.41 ($112,500). The top 12 finishers earned prize money.
After the awards ceremony, autograph session and media interviews, Kukuk returned to the hospital to be with his wife, Veronica, and daughter.
"The due day was actually next week, next Saturday, and we said in the beginning, 'Oh, perfect, it’s right after [WEF], could not be better,' " Kukuk said. "Then the closer we got, the more we could see coming that she could also come a little bit early. I was honestly a bit hoping she at least would wait until Sunday. But for sure, she did not, and she decided to come this morning. So we drove to the hospital last night.
"I have to be honest, I was a little bit lucky, because I was pushing Veronica to wait as long as possible at home, not to go too early in the hospital and spend too much time there before the grand prix," Kukuk added. "But then at one point, she said, 'I think we have to go now, actually.' So we went, and I still was quite relaxed.
"Then when we went to the room and they checked her, they suddenly got really stressed and said 'well, we are already at 8 centimeters, we really have to hurry up here.' ...
