Jim Vangilder, Jackson, Mo., and Zacks Lena were in select company on Jan. 30, 2004, when they ran away with the Augusta Classic Non-Pro Championship for 5- and 6-year-old horses.

Their 227 won the division by seven points and matched the winning score registered by Chiquita Pistol and Tag Rice in the Classic Open finals. The 227s were the top marks of the week and they thus split the $25,000 special prize commemorating the show's 25th anniversary. Vangilder earned $21,378 for his victory, which came by seven points over defending champion Bucki James, Purcell, Okla., riding Rambo Merada.

Vangilder said he struggled a bit in 2003 after leaving the limited earnings divisions of cutting competition.

"I hadn't been too confident going into the herd," said Vangilder, who worked fifth in the second group, or 16th overall in the 22- horse finals. "This is the non-pro, a step up. A lot of those guys are awesome competitors."

The 227 score also was a record for the Classic finals, eclipsing the 224.5 marked by Dick Cogdell on Susie Dry in 1994.

"That's really awesome," Vangilder said. "That's unbelievable. (Zacks Lena) is certainly capable of it. That's a once-in-a-lifetime deal for me. I've never marked a score like that."

Vangilder, who qualified for the finals with scores of 217.5 - 215 — 432.5, felt good about the mare, which is by Zack T Wood out of Ceelena Jo by Doc O'Lena, because she already had won more than $100,000.

"I've been having a problem with being assertive with my cutting," he said. "Tonight, I just made up my mind I was going to try to push the cows out and whatever happened, it was just going to happen. To be able to win here is .... I never had considered that, to tell you the truth."

Zacks Lena and the first black cow Vangilder cut spent much of the opening 30-second showdown head-to-head near the middle of the ring. With the crowd already buzzing, he cut an energetic yellow and white cow and the mare bobbed and weaved in mirror image to the cow for about 25 seconds. Vangilder then separated a spirited black cow from the herd with 15 seconds left.

"I just really felt comfortable. I did not know the buzzer went off because of the crowd noise," Vangilder said.

Vangilder, now 58, said when a friend introduced him to cutting in the mid-1990s, he hoped to get his teenage daughter, Lindsey, involved in the sport. Although it didn't "stick" with her, he got hooked by the cutting bug and really dived into the business in a big way by purchasing a large Texas ranch in 2001.

Raised in Missouri, Vangilder graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in mechanical engineering. Until a few years ago, he owned a company that manufactured wood-surface kits for over-the-road trailers and vans.

He has an older daughter, Katheryn Anne, by a former marriage, and he and his wife, Marsha, have a daughter, Grace, 7.