Clint Allen and Aristo Katz go to work. Steve Norman/Special

Clint Allen spun around Aristo Katz and ran her back and forth, kicking up red clay as the two prepared for their first run together in Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center since their masterpiece a year ago.

The 2004 Augusta Futurity Open champions are trying to add a new title to their rsums. But they nearly faltered in Saturday's first go-round of the Classic Open.

A wicked brown cow tried to elude the pair. Allen and his 5-year-old mare cut it off before it returned to the herd.

"I'm just glad to have survived that run," Allen said.

Allen, of Weatherford, Texas, finished second on Wood Ya Wanna and later finished 43rd on Aristo Katz, advancing both horses to Monday's second go-round.

Faron Hightower and Just Playin Smart bested the field with 221.5, 1.5 points better than Allen and Wood Ya Wanna and Lloyd Cox atop Pale Face Jose.

Hightower said it's the first competitive horse he's had since winning the 2001 Augusta Futurity Open and Classic Open finals.

"He's as good a horse as I've had in a while," Hightower said. "Maybe he can pull me out of the rut I've been in the past two, three years."

Allen is not in a rut. Rather, he returns to Augusta as a defending Futurity Open champion after winning the show's most prestigious official event last year.

"It's a fun place to come back to," he said. "You see your face on the billboards and in the newspaper."

Allen and Aristo Katz failed to originally qualify for the Western Horseman Cup finals in 2004. But the two snuck into the competition after Guy Woods and Cat Ichi pulled out.

"It'll be fun," said Allen, who rides two horses in today's Futurity Open first go-round. "I'm looking forward to that."

Allen will try to become just the second rider to win the Futurity Open and Classic Open final in consecutive years. Tag Rice and Chiquita Pistol not only accomplished that feat - but also won last year's Western Horseman Cup Open finals.

"It'd mean a lot to win the Classic Open," Allen said. "If I did that, I don't know if I'd ever come back again.

"To win the Classic Open on Aristo Katz ... she's a special kind of horse. They don't come along very often."