The cutting horse industry had its first opportunity to showcase "the best of the best" in The Western Horseman Cup Finals, held Jan. 29, 2004, in conjunction with the Augusta Futurity and Classic, and Chiquita Pistol didn't let 'em down.

The mare, owned by Wallace "Tooter" Dorman, Oakwood, Texas, and ridden by Tag Rice, 29, Buffalo, Texas, scored a 230 to win by five points over TR Dual Rey, a stallion owned by S. David Plummer, Fruit Heights, Utah, and ridden by Lloyd Cox.

Chiquita Pistol, the 2003 NCHA Horse of the Year and an NCHA Triple Crown Champion, earned $50,000, while TR Dual Rey picked up $23,500.

The event, sponsored by Cowboy Publishing Group's Western Horseman magazine in conjunction with the National Cutting Horse Association, brought 17 of the best foals of 1999, ridden by the industry's leading professionals, and 15 of the sport's top non-pro riders together for a single round shoot-out and a purse of $253,730.

Rice drew the No. 1 yellow pingpong ball on Jan. 28, the day before the finals, and thus was able to choose his preferred working position, second in the second group, or No. 10 overall.

"It's fun to win when the best cutters in the world and the best horses are here," Rice said. "I feel honored just to ride down there on that mare. I owe everything to her. She's absolutely incredible."

Chiquita Pistol, by Smart Little Pistol out of Miss Chiquita Tari by Pay Twenty One, easily led qualifers from the Quarter Horse News Spring Season, the first of three Western Horseman Cup seasons, with 375 points earned for winning the 2002 NCHA Futurity, the 2003 Abilene Spectacular and the 2003 Augusta Futurity.

Although the Augusta pen is long and narrow and doesn't favor Chiquita Pistol's style of running fast and then making hard stops, the mare demonstrated that she can excel under varied conditions. Rice's strategy of picking his position in the draw paid off in a big way.

"You don't necessarily want to be first, but I would have been first if I hadn't been able to get where I wanted. There were about four cows I really liked and I cut three. That's the advantage I had. It felt good right off the bat. As soon as I dropped my hand, she was right there, sharper than she has been."

Rice said the unique event is a great capper for the industry's premier cutting horses. The inaugural series began with the 2002 NCHA Futurity and carried through aged events that ended the first week in November.

"We have had the World Finals, but that is for the weekend cutters," Rice said. "This is the aged-event deal. Every horse in there is a good horse and everybody was going for it. That's what made it fun. We've never had anything like this."