King and Kayenne (Kannan GFE x Canezaro) were the 28th of 29 entries to take on the first-round course, and as they navigated the track set by course designer Peter Grant, spectators waited with bated breath. Then, as Kayenne came home clear over the final oxer, the crowd broke into cheers. Until that point in the evening, no one had yet produced a clear effort, and King’s would prove to be the only one of the night, securing him the win without the need for a jump-off.

“I’ve been doing this a long time; I’ve had a lot of grand prix victories, and never ever have I been the only clear!” said King. “I’ve seen it happen a million times. It’s never to me…You stick in this long enough, it happens. I’m super proud of Kayenne. She just absolutely played with this course tonight. It was a very tricky course. It was nice I got to go at the very end, so I got to see exactly how I wanted to ride it, but I think she was rub free. She just kind of cantered around like an equitation course. She’s an amazing, special mare.”

Finishing in second place as the fastest four-faulters with a time of 75.68 seconds were Skylar Wireman and Barclino B (Constanzenhof's Barcley x Lasino), owned by Wireman Investment Group. Karl Cook and Foxy de la Roque (Armitages boy x Kannan GFE), owned by Signe Ostby, brought home third place with four faults in 77.13 seconds.

“She won the World Cup [qualifier], and then I saved her until I did her in one class last week,” said King of his strategy with his Zangersheide mare. “She had like two weeks just totally turned out and two weeks of just kind of flatting. I did one class on Sunday, and I just tried to peak for this class. Now she’s going to have another big break. I’ve got big plans for this summer, so I feel like she’s really in a good place.”

King continued, “Our relationship is getting to be pretty amazing. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve had a lot of very good horses, but this mare knows when it’s a big moment. She’s just special…I’ve never really been around a horse like her.”

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