Checker 47 | Checker 47

چهار نعل: Checker 47 | Checker 47

Checker 47, a gray Westphalian gelding born in 2010, was the only combination in Paris 2024 under Christian Kukuk’s saddle to deliver two completely faultless…

Checker 47 was born in Germany in 2010 to Wolfgang Kipp; a gray stallion of the Westfalen (Westphalia) breed whose pedigree can be described, in the words of one of his specialist profiles, as “a history of show jumping breeding.” His sire is Comme il faut, the result of a mating arranged by Ludger Beerbaum himself between the stallion Cornet Obolensky and his top mare Ratina Z; and his dam is Pamina, a daughter of Come On, the same horse that Princess Haya of Jordan rode at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. This bloodline from Come On traces back to Cantus and Caletto I and ultimately to Roman (by the stallion Ramzes AA).

The first decade of Checker’s life was spent in Ludger Beerbaum’s stable in Riesenbeck, where he competed up to 1. 55 meters. Christian Kukuk, who had joined the Beerbaum stable as a training rider in 2012, first saw Checker when he was still “only” jumping at 1. 45 meters; and simply said to himself: “I want him. ” In 2020, that wish came true: Checker’s reins passed from Beerbaum to Kukuk, and a journey began that was to transform both of their professional careers.

Ownership of this horse is held by a group in which German entrepreneur Madeleine Winter-Schulze and — notably — Thomas Müller, the 2014 FIFA World Cup winner, are partners; a rare link between the worlds of football and show jumping that lends Checker’s story a special character.

The breakthrough seasons of this partnership came in 2023. In Rome, Kukuk and Checker 47 won the last class of the Longines Global Champions Tour, the 1. 50-meter speed class in Circus Maximus, on September 17 (the official Grand Prix of the event was separately won by Henrik von Eckermann with King Edward). Soon after, the pair delivered a clear round in the FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final in Barcelona, bringing Germany its first Nations Cup Final title since 2016. Over a twelve-month period, from April 2023 to April 2024, Checker earned close to 1. 6 million euros or more in prize money; a figure widely described as the highest recorded 365-day total prize earnings for a horse.

But the peak of Checker 47’s journey came in the gardens of Château de Versailles, at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In the individual show jumping final, Kukuk and Checker were the only combination to produce two completely clear rounds and entered the decisive three-way jump-off in the lead; their rivals were Swiss Steve Guerdat with Dynamix de Belheme and Dutch Maikel van der Vleuten with Beauville Z. Checker’s fast, flawless round in 38. 34 seconds proved unbeatable and earned Kukuk the gold medal; 4 faults for Guerdat in 38. 38 seconds took silver, and 4 faults for van der Vleuten in 39. 12 seconds brought him bronze. This was Germany’s first individual show jumping gold in 28 years.

After this peak, Checker 47 did not stop galloping: team gold at the inaugural Longines League of Nations Final in Barcelona, third place in the GCL Super Cup Final in Riyadh, two consecutive Wellington Grands Prix in January 2025, and — most remarkably of all — victory in the inaugural Rolex US Equestrian Open Final worth $750,000 at Wellington International on March 30, 2025; his second consecutive Wellington Rolex Grand Prix title.

At the age of fifteen, he still jumps with a success rate of nearly 75 percent in fault-free 1.60-meter rounds; Checker 47 is one of those rare examples of Olympic champions who continued to rise even after winning gold, and cemented his place among the greats in the modern history of show jumping.

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