The Solo Select Christmas Eve Online Sale set a record, selling the highest priced rope-horse embryo on record at $64,000 for a Metallic Cat x DT Sugar Chex Whiz cross to Blackfoot, Idaho's 7K Quarter Horses.
7K Quarter Horses, owned by Kurt Neff and managed by Kraig VanOrden, is combining the family's passion for ranching with exceptional bloodstock in equine athletes to make its mark across the Western performance industry. With the likes of Cody Hyde training its 2-year-old barrel prospects and Zane Davis training the program's cow horses, Neff and VanOrden are ready to put some performers into the market at the highest levels.
"We wanted that embryo because Sugar is as good of a mare out there as there is," Neff, a rancher and cattle buyer in Idaho and Colorado, said. "We own some shares in The Darkk Side, so this was a good fit. I don't know if I want it to be a filly or a horse colt, honestly."
Metallic Cat is second in the AQHA's all-time leading sire charts with over $75 million in progeny earnings, while DT Sugar Chex Whiz is the all-time leading dam of rope horses. The black mare, who was the AQHA/PRCA Heel Horse of the Year with Billie Jack Saebens, has already produced AQHA World Champion The Darkk Side and $100,000-earner The Notorious BIG, as well as DT Hickorys Blue Steel who's earned over $176,000 in her three-year career.
DT Sugar Chex Whiz's embryo by Stevie Rey Von previously held the record in the rope horse industry as the highest selling foal in utero for $50,000 on Christmas Eve 2023.
"We're ranchers, and we used and raised ranch horses," Neff added. "About three years ago, I decided if we were going to feed some, we might as well be feeding some good ones. Melanie and Ty have been a huge part of that. We also have a full sibling to (reigning WPRA World Champion Kassie Mowry's) Jarvis (Force The Goodbye) that I'm even more excited about, honestly."
For Saebens, seeing DT Sugar Chex Whiz's embryos leading the pack in the rope horse game is an honor that comes as no surprise.
"Sugar still is one of the best mares to ever compete at the highest level," the two-time NFR heeler and ARHFA World Champ Saebens said. "When Dixon Flowers crossed her on Metallic Cat, I knew it would be great. There's just no way to go wrong, and it will be the kind of baby to build a program around."
The baby—due in March—will join a host of relatives, including two by DT Sugar Chex Whiz's World Champion son The Darkk Side, owned by The Darkk Side Syndicate standing at Solo Select.
"I had Darkk Side baby born this spring, and she came out with a baldy face and four white socks and red roan, and I sent the photos to Melanie (Smith), and she said 'That's not out of Darkk Side, that's got to be out of TicTac (Metallic Cattack),'" Neff said with a smile. "We did a genetic test, and it IS out of Darkk Side. And all of that gets my blood pumping."
Neff will leave the recip mare at Solo to foal out, and he has no plans to sell the baby—or any others anytime soon, for that matter.
"I have two full siblings out of Lourdes and Woody that I bought as embryos from Melanie," Neff explained. "Zane has them right now, coming 2-year-olds. They'll go to the cow horse, but we'll see. I have a full sibling to Hell On The Red, too, that will go to Cody Hyde. My manager Kreg has a passion for horses, and he'll push things forward for us. All of this is right up his alley, and he's loving it. I want to have performers to prove themselves, and then babies to offer when people like our performers. My real goal is to put 7K Quarter horses on the map in Blackfoot, Idaho. The rope horse thing fits into our ranching roots, and it has such a bright future with all of the incentives happening, and of course the barrel horse deal has its share of valuable incentives, too."
The next Solo Select Online Sale will be a Frozen Embryo & Foal-In-Utero Special Sale Jan. 12 to Jan. 13, 2025.
