Brad Mitchell, riding Boonbay Smash, scored 217 in the second go-round Monday and is tied for the overall lead in the Futurity Open. Special

Mild-mannered Gary Ray has good reason for showing and disappearing in the Augusta Futurity the past three decades.

"I just didn't have a good enough horse to want to come back here," Ray said. "It's a long ways to come back here just to get your name called out if you don't think you have a chance to do something."

In his fifth appearance, Ray has a horse that meets his standards. Riding Sophisticat, Ray marked the top score of the second go-round of the Futurity Open with 220 on Monday evening to easily advance to the finals.

Ray and his horse also enter the finals with the top aggregate score of 434.5, matching Brad Mitchell and Boonbay Smash.

The top 23 horses with combined scores of 430 or better advanced to Saturday night's championship round at Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center.

A 53-year-old grandfather of three, Ray of Throckmorton, Texas, believes a higher power rode with him during his run.

"The Lord was with me I guess," Ray said. "My help had the cows picked for me. The cows they liked, I liked, too. It just seemed like when I went there they were where they needed to be for me to cut them clean. I don't know."

Owner Stephen Dill bought the horse at the Tommy Manion sale in September 2002. Ray, who has had the horse and trained him since then, was caught off guard by the purchase.

"We went there, and I didn't know Steve was going to buy a stud," he said. "I thought he was going to buy fillies. We previewed all the 2-year-olds, and there were some things I liked about the horse and there were some things I didn't like about him."

As it turned out, the horse has been better than Ray anticipated. He made the semifinals of the NCHA World Championship Futurity on him and later made the finals of the Abilene Spectacular.

"This may be the best horse I've ever ridden, and I've been riding a long time," Ray said.

"He's easy to train. He's easy to be around. He's just a nice horse. He don't ever give you a minute of trouble."