Austin Shepard, on Woody Be Tuff, marked 219.5 to tie for Friday's first go-round lead in the Classic Open division. Special

Tracy Barton knows well the road to the Augusta Futurity.

For the past two decades, he's trekked to the show from his native Virginia. Each year, he's left Augusta without that elusive first title.

Still, he smiles.

"It'd be wonderful to finally win one year after coming since 1985," he said. "But Augusta's been real good to me.

"As long as you can get in the finals and take your bat and swing at the ball, somewhere down the line you're going to hit a home run."

Barton and Ten Colors took their first step to the finals, marking 216 in Friday's first go-round of the 28th Augusta Futurity Classic Open at James Brown Arena.

Lloyd Cox and Reydiculous, Austin Shepard and Woody Be Tuff and Sean Flynn and Neat Little Cat all tied atop the leaderboard at 219.5. The top 55 horses with scores of 213.5 or better advanced to today's second go-round, which begins at 8 a.m.

Barton will try to qualify for the finals and finish off what he came so close to last year. In 2006, the 43-year-old cutter and Ten Colors, a 5-year-old stallion by Color Me Smart out of Little Tenina, finished second in the Futurity Open finals.

Barton might have settled for his third reserve championship in Augusta, but he accomplished something no other competitor could in the 28-horse final. He became the people's champion.

The sleepy crowd soon became raucous when Barton and his stallion, who rode next- to-last in the event, cut their first two cows. The pair struggled with the third cow, but when the run ended the applause continued.

The crowd soon booed when the score of 217.5 - 2.5 points short of Roger Wagner and Pet Squirrel - flashed on the scoreboard.

"The support alone was unbelievable," Barton said. "I guess anybody east of the Mississippi (River) in the finals is the hometown boy. Living five hours from here and having the support of all the people from Augusta was overwhelming.

"I've been fortunate to show at a lot of cuttings the past 10, 15 years. I never had a cheering section the way I had here. That was probably the loudest (2)17.5 I've ever done."

Barton, who has more than $1.5 million in career earnings, is an acclaimed East Coast cutter. In 2005, he was inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame.

Barton works as a trainer with 45-50 horses in training at his ranch in Penhook, Va. He and his wife, Sue, brought 24 horses to the Augusta Futurity.

It's a familiar routine. Tracy Barton first came to the Augusta Futurity in 1985 with Greg Welch, who owns two Classic Open titles. Like Welch, Barton will try to add his own championship.

From the Thursday, January 20, 2007 edition of the Augusta Chronicle