Guy Woods took advantage of his premium position in the Futurity Open second go-round Friday.

Guy Woods riding Cat Ichi leads the 4 Year-Old Open Division Round 2 with a cumulative score of 438.5. Patrick King/Special

Riding third in the last batch of horses, Woods and Cat Ichi marked 220 and entered tonight's finals with a top combined score of 438.5. Twenty-five horses with combined scores of 430.5 or better advanced to the championship flight. The Augusta Futurity Open finals follow the Futurity Non-Pro finals, which begin tonight at 6:30 at Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center.

"That's the best draw I've had on him," Woods said. "I've had some pretty awful draws the entire time I've been showing him."

Woods, of Pilot Point, Texas, has shown the stallion twice before. The two finished ninth in the NCHA World Championship Futurity in December and 15th at the Abilene Spectacular earlier this month.

"We're on a roll about making the finals," Woods said.

The 42-year-old trainer has been showing cutting horses off and on at the Augusta Futurity since 1985. This will be his second Open finals appearance here, and first as a second go-round leader.

"The way my horse feels down there gives me a lot of confidence. He feels great," he said. "But as far as leading after two rounds, I don't even think about that. It's a clean slate now."

Woods will be looking to continue a trend of first-time Futurity Open champions, which began in 1999. He might need a bigger score from Cat Ichi, a stallion by High Brow Cat out of Laney Doc.

"He can mark a lot of big score just the way he works," Woods said. "He's real smart on a cow. He makes a cow stand a lot, because he's doing all that jumping around in front of him."