WOODWARD, Okla. — The Darkk Smoke, a 2025 colt by The Darkk Side out of $200,000 producer Chars Gun, a Select Genes mare, sold for $64,000 to top the 46th Annual Cudd Quarter Horses Production & Consignment Sale, making The Darkk Side the only stallion to produce back-to-back high sellers from the same cross at the sale.
2026 Cudd Quarter Horses Sale high seller — The Darkk Smoke.
A full brother to The Darkk Smoke, sold as a weanling, claimed the same top honors in 2025, selling for $50,000.
The Darkk Side is an AQHA Open World Champion head horse standing under limited syndicate ownership, with his 2025 breedings selling out in 27 minutes and his 2026 book closing in 31 minutes.
Renee Cudd, owner of Cudd Quarter Horses, host of the Cudd Sale, and a member of The Darkk Side syndicate, said scarcity is what fuels demand.
"I think people want what they can't have," Cudd said. "You can't go buy a breeding to The Darkk Side, but that's what makes it valuable to me. People want those colts."
Renee Cudd with The Darkk Smoke. | Photo: Elite Equine Promotions
Because syndicate owners control the majority of breeding rights, public sales are one of the few realistic avenues for outside buyers. An embryo by The Darkk Side out of Chars Gun, offered through the Solo Select Winter Sale, commanded $46,000, in line with the sale-ring results. A growing number of his offspring are also trading privately before reaching any public market.
Trevor Brazile, a 26-time world champion, member of The Darkk Side syndicate, and the trainer and rider behind the stallion, said the colts back up the demand.
"The size and substance he brings is something the industry needs right now," Brazile said. "He's got the look, the bone, and the ability to go with it—and that's translating into his colts."
The Darkk Side and 26-time world champion Trevor Brazile. | Photo: Elite Equine Promotions
Brazile said the vision was there from the start.
"We believe in this horse and his potential to shape the future of the rope horse industry," Brazile said when the decision was made to make The Darkk Side the first rope horse ever syndicated.
Ty Smith, co-owner and co-founder of Solo Select said the private market tells the same story.
"Mares bred to him, in-utero foals, and his foals on the ground have been selling phenomenally—most not even making it to the public market before selling. It makes us extremely excited for the syndicate owners," Smith said.
Smith also pointed to the appeal of the stallion's pedigree.
The Darkk Side
"Everyone wants this stallion's foals," Smith said. "It says a lot about him and the impact he's already making."
With no Metallic Cat or High Brow Cat bloodlines, The Darkk Side offers an outcross for breeders working today's most popular mare lines. A handful of his 2-year-olds are in training. His 2027 breeding waitlist is open through Solo Select.
The Solo Select fitting program is gearing up for an exciting lineup of premier sales this year:
Pink Buckle Sale - 10/7
NRCHA Sale - 10/23-10/24
Old West Rope Horse Futurity & Sale - 10/21-10/24
Triangle Sale - Fall - 10/30-10/31
Solo Select Sale - Yearling Section - 11/28
NCHA Sale - 12/6-12/12
NRHA Sale - 12/2
ALL PERFORMANCE Sale Fitting Inquiries (Cutting, Reined Cow Horse, Roping, Reining etc.):
Evan Moffit 817-773-4253
Ty Smith 405-317-9363
Matt Witman 405-613-0047
