Curry Diehl, who won the first go-round on Play Xclusive with a 224.0, is the top qualifier for the Classic Non-Pro finals with a total score of 438.0. Special

Chad Bushaw's familiar with being near the top of the leaderboard in the Augusta Futurity.

He finished second in last year's Classic Non-Pro finals. Two years ago, he recorded a third-place finish.

"That's kind of been the story of my life," he said.

Bushaw, of Weatherford, Texas, improved his odds of taking home a title Wednesday afternoon. Atop Shortys Last Stretch, Bushaw recorded the top score of the Classic Non-Pro second go-round with 220.

He advanced all three of his horses to the finals, including Shortys Last Stretch with a 437.5 total, A Cat Above (437) and Peps Calm Down (432.5).

The 33-year-old Bushaw is the only rider with three horses in the finals. Mary Ann Rapp is the only other rider with multiple horses (Lil Lena Long Legs and Reytilda) vying for the title.

After winning the first go-round with a score of 224, Curry Diehl of Millsap, Texas, and Play Xclusive marked a conservative 214 and cruised into the finals with the top combined score of 438.

The top 20 horses with aggregate scores of 431 or better qualified for tonight's finals, which begin at 6 at James Brown Arena.

Bushaw entered this year's show ranked No. 49 on the Augusta Futurity's all-time money list with nearly $70,000. A win in this event would push him close to 30th on the list.

Bushaw, who along with wife, Amie, has two young sons - 3-year-old Charles Russell and 4-month-old Will James - credits his help with putting him in this position.

"I've got all four of my main helpers out here - Matt Gaines, Sean Flynn, Phil Rapp and Paul Hansma," he said. "It makes all the difference in the world. When you come back here, not all those guys will come at once. It's a good, comforting feeling knowing you have your best help down there helping you."

Bushaw, a senior vice president for UBS in Fort Worth, Texas, said he wasn't trying to win the second go-round.

"That run just kind of got forced on us," he said. "My second cow, I was working it for 40, 50 seconds. It was a really, really good cow. She just wouldn't turn away."

Shortys Last Stretch is a 6-year-old gelding by Shorty Lena out of Docs Handy Ann. Bushaw said the gelding is the last colt out of his mother, who he owns.

"So he's kind of special to me," he said.

From the Thursday, January 25, 2007 edition of the Augusta Chronicle