Freezing rain greeted Michael Morris as he prepared for his early-morning run Saturday.

Just what the Seale, Ala., cutter needed.

Battling a flu-like illness, Morris was hopped up on coffee, ibuprofen, Nyquil and Alka-Seltzer cold medicine for the go-round of the $100,000 Amateur for 4-Year-Olds.

"I'm doped up," he said.

Riding FMR Double The Pep, the heavily medicated Morris rung up a score of 217 to win the event by three points.

Five horses with scores of 211.5 or better advanced to today's finals, which will be held after the completion of the Classic Open first go-round and $100,000 Amateur for 5/6-Year-Olds finals.

"We'll take it easy today and then I'll wake up in the morning and take my handful of pills," Morris said. "Then we'll come back and try to win it."

Lisa Langdon of Aubrey, Texas, and Little Bitty Hippy tied for second at 214 with Kevin Baumann of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, and San Tules Heritage. Langdon hugged anybody nearby after her run.

She is getting the most out of the replacement for her injured mare. Her husband, Tony, found her newest mare two days before last month's National Cutting Horse Association World Championship Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas. There, Langdon and Little Bitty Hippy, by Hickorys Indian Pep out of Little Bitty Boon, finished ninth in the Amateur finals.

"She's just been so good for me," Langdon said. "I need to be pinched. She's just so awesome.

"She likes her job. And she's so pretty. She has this sweet look in her eye. She goes down there and gives 110 percent no matter what. If anything ever goes wrong it is pilot error."

Morris had no piloting issues atop his horse, FMR Double The Pep, a gelding by Smart Sugar Badger out of Peppys Tenina. He bought the horse last month because his other 4-year-old wasn't working out.

"She was just real brutal for me to ride," he said. "She was really talented I just couldn't ride her."

Morris showed his new gelding at a weekend show in Montgomery, Ala., and the pair marked a score of 72. The score convinced Morris he had a horse to enter Augusta with.

"He's fun to ride," Morris said. "He's solid. He's got a lot of feel about him. He's very stealthy in his motions out there. He tiptoes across a cow. It gives you a really confident feeling. You feel like you can hold just about anything."

Morris said he's been cutting for about 10 years but doing it competitively for the past three. He entered the sport after watching a cutting event at the Southeast Livestock show in Montgomery, Ala.

"I thought I wanted to do this," he said. "And I've been broke ever since."

Morris works for his father-in-law's environmental construction company that performs tasks such as cleaning contaminated soil, tank demolitions or abandoned warehouses. Morris said he's on call if something like a rig carrying contaminated materials turns over on the highway or if a train derails. His company has to clean up the spills.

"I've actually been at cuttings before where I've had to leave to go clean up something and miss my run," he said. "It kind of sucks, but you've got to support the habit. It's like a drug."

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.

From the Sunday, January 20, 2008 edition of the Augusta Chronicle