Lloyd Cox doesn't reflect back on last year and mention bad luck.
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Cox twice finished second, including a half-point loss in the Futurity Open finals. Still, the three-time Augusta Futurity champion earned almost $60,000.
"There's no way you can be disappointed with that," he said. "Second is a pretty good hole. It pays pretty dang good. Everybody wants to win first, of course. But all you can do is go down there and do the best job you can,and if it's enough, that's good."
Atop Pale Face Jose, Cox marked 218 in the second go-round of the Classic Open on Monday at Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center. The score was good enough to send Cox and the 6-year-old stud into Thursday's finals as the top pair with a score of 438 after two rounds of competition.
All-time Augusta Futurity champion Phil Rapp rumbled toward the top of the leader board in the second go-round. He marked the day's top score at 221.5 on Light N Lena after earlier posting 221 on Keena Pep. Both horses, owned by Billy Martin, tied for second overall, a half-point behind Pale Face Jose.
"We tried to step it up a little bit today," Rapp said. "Both those horses of Billy's were excellent today. When I worked them this morning, they were outstanding. Both of them showed very well."
Gary Gonsalves and Cosmo Flo (220), Faron Hightower and Just Playin Smart (215.5), Clint Allen and Wood Ya Wanna (217) and Jeremy Barwick and Dual Rey Me (218) each tied for fourth at 437.
Twenty-five horses with aggregate scores of 433 or higher advanced.
For Cox, of Fort Morgan Colo., entering the championship round with the best combined score means little.
"Absolutely nothing," he said. "You just have to make the finals. That's the goal right there."
An amazing goal he accomplished - considering this is the first time he showed Pale Face Jose, a horse owned by Dustin and Deena Adams.
Dustin Adams spoke to Cox at the Abilene Spectacular earlier this month and asked him to train the horse. Cox worked with the horse a handful of days before competing with him.
"I was just lucky (Adams) picked me to ride him," Cox said.
His luck came into question when cutting his second cow. For a brief moment, the black cow looked like a running back with a wall of blockers in front of him. Pale Face Jose squeezed between the cow and the cattle to save the run.
"It was little tricky on that second cut," Cox said. "There was a lot of cattle up there, and I was taking him on the top. And he kind of cut back on me. It was a little hairy there for a while."
Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.
Read more on Futurity: Augusta Chronicle Futurity Section
