The stars aligned for the USA鈥檚 Shawn Casady Friday afternoon, June 2 at Thunderbird Show Park, as the 28-year-old recorded the biggest victory of his career with NKH Cento Blue in the $235,000 CSIO5* Longines Grand Prix.

It took nearly a third of the class for a clean round to materialize, and it was 91原创鈥檚 own Samantha Buirs-Darvill to lay it down with Chic D Emma Z. Once she did, World No. 10 Shane Sweetnam from Ireland followed suit with Out of the Blue SCF. But a trend it was not.

While fences fell in relatively equal measure, the last fence, the Longines vertical (鈥榰nlucky鈥� 13) fell seven times. Just two more clears joined the jump-off: Canada鈥檚 Kara Chad with Igor GPH and the last pair in the ring, Casady and Cento Blue.

First to return over the short course, Buirs-Darvill had an unfortunate refusal, costing her a chance at victory. Sweetnam laid down a clean round to put the pressure on, stopping the timer in 43.05 seconds. After elimination befell Chad and Igor, it was all down to Casady.

from on .

According to Jumpr App, Casady and KNH Cento Blue have performed with 4 faults or less 80 per of the time in 2023, so it was only a matter of time before they had their turn in the winner鈥檚 circle. Today was the day, as they posted a clean round in 42.46 seconds.

READ ALSO: Local riders excited to be returning to Thunderbird Show Park

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 see Shane鈥檚 whole jump off,鈥� Casady explained. 鈥淸I was] just wanting to be double clear and consistent. For a big horse, he covers so much ground. I think that鈥檚 kind of where we were. We snuck in.

鈥淚 could have been fourth at the worst and it would have been a good day.鈥�

Casady, who grew up catch-riding ponies, didn鈥檛 acquire the ride on Cento Blue until his owner, Erin Davis-Heineking had an unfortunate injury, requiring shoulder surgery. She asked Casady to take on the ride and sent her horse to California, where the new partnership immediately started to win.

For the past two weeks in 91原创, Casady has been living and working out of his RV, grooming on his own and enjoying having the time to really get to know Cento Blue.

鈥淗e鈥檚 very food driven. He loves attention. And if you鈥檙e anywhere in the barn, he has his head out of his stall,鈥� Casady described. 鈥淓very time you go near where there might be a snack, he looks over and wonders if you鈥檙e going to grab something for him. But he鈥檚 polite about it. He knows not to be rude.鈥�

Sweetnam was second and Buirs-Darvill was third.

READ ALSO: Tbird 鈥榟onoured鈥� to host FEI Nations Cup for sixth year in a row

Sunday鈥檚 big $400,000 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup at tbird is from 2 to 4 p.m. with gates opening at 1 p.m.

General admission for the Nations Cup is $10 per person, while children five and younger are admitted free.

Spectator tickets for any of these events can be bought online at .

The public is asked to enter the gates at 6975 248th St.