Kyle Manion, Aubrey, Texas, entered at the 11th hour when a cell phone suddenly started working during a vacation trip in the Caribbean. The phone call made a dream come true on Jan. 29, 2004, when he captured the Non-Pro Division of the inaugural Western Horseman Cup Finals.

In a twist of fate, Manion scored a 225.5 on Ricochet Pep, while Mary Ann Rapp, Weatherford, Texas, finished second with a 224.5 on TM Quiver, the mare that had earned the bulk of Manion's 160 Western Horseman Cup qualifying points.

Both horses are by Smart Lil Ricochet, a stallion owned by the Manion Ranch. Ricochet Pep is a gelding out of Pep Up Tari, while TM Quiver is a mare out of Shes Pretty Smooth, which carried Tommy Manion to a work-off victory over his son, Kyle, and Browbeater in the 1995 Augusta Futurity Non-Pro.

Although Kyle Manion's mounts had career earnings of more than $330,000, he had to overcome an effort turned in by a rider who had earned more than $1.8 million. Manion was the 10th to pick in the drawing for working positions and chose to work 14th, or next to last, although he knew the cattle would be tough. Rapp, who was first to pick, slipped her lineup card in the 10th spot and her 224.5 was an ominous figure when Manion worked.

"Any time you have a top competitor going ahead of you, it's tough," Manion said. "Mary Ann is hard to beat anyway, especially with a salty run like that. I've been dying for an Augusta win."

When some riders sold their horses and chose not to buy another mount for the Finals, the 15-rider Non-Pro field was filled from a cumulative listing of riders not otherwise qualified. Manion qualified from this list.

Manion, whose points were earned on TM Quiver, Crocheted and Swoon, was on a Caribbean cruise with his dad and mother, Chris, when the NCHA office called their ranch to see if he wanted to compete based on his cumulative points total.

Their cell phone had not worked until they reached St. Lucia. They were taking a taxi to the top of a mountain to view a volcano when suddenly, the phone rang, bringing news from the Manion Ranch office — it was the last day that Kyle Manion could enter.

The Manion Ranch's sale had trimmed their supply of performance horses. Although they had purchased Ricochet Pep at the end of November, Kyle Manion had not shown the gelding.

"Dad said, 'You want to show? You really haven't shown that horse,' " said Kyle, who lost a cow on the gelding in the first go-round of the Classic Non-Pro, the only time he had shown the horse prior to the Western Horseman Cup Finals. "I said, 'Yeah, let's try it.' So we did. Thank God, it worked out."