Austin Shepard and Brett Davis found themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum in Monday's Classic Open second go-round.

Shepard and High Brow CD needed only to avoid losing a cow to make the finals. Davis and Grandpaws Playgirl needed a bit of a miracle.

Both pairs got what they wanted.

Shepard and his mare marked a safe 217 to advance to the Classic Open finals with the top aggregate score of 442, eight points better than the rest of the field.

The top 20 horses with scores of 430.5 or better advanced to Thursday night's championship round.

Davis of Texarkana, Texas, and his horse made the most of their run after qualifying for the second go-round on the cut number of 212. The pair rung up the top score of the second go with 220, advancing to the finals with a combined score of 432.

"I had to make up some ground," Davis said. "(In the first round), I kind of had some holes in my run. So I couldn't take any chances today and mess up."

Davis said he had faith in Grandpaws Playgirl, a 5-year-old mare by Wise Play out of Tino Hickory.

He said he knew the horse he's been training all her life had plenty left in her tank.

"She won't let you down," Davis said. "She's clean with her front end and always been pretty cowy."

Davis drew up sixth in a 13-horse bunch. The advantageous position left him two good cows to mark a high number.

"The first cow was my favorite cow," Davis said. "We cut her, and the mare was as good as she can be.

"I had about 40 seconds to cut my second cow. So I thought I needed to stay hooked. I was going to work to the whistle, whether it was going to work or not. It worked out."

While Davis had to be aggressive, Shepard was able to play it conservative.

This time, instead of cutting three cows, like he and High Brow CD did in the first go, they worked two cows and tried not to expose themselves to any potential trouble.

"You hate to look back and say all I had to do was mark a 206 to make the finals and I lost a cow," Shepard said.

"Sometimes it's harder to qualify than it is to go ahead and show."

Shepard helped Davis during his run. Afterward, Shepard said he could appreciate his friend's position of having to post a big number to advance.

"A lot of times, you're more comfortable doing that," Shepard said.

"We're used to going and showing and being competitive," he added, "but it's hard to say you want to be competitive but you don't want to mess up."

Of course, Davis said he wished he would've had Shepard's problem.

"You'd always rather do it like Austin did it -- have a big score the first run and then just cruise into the finals," he said.

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.