Speed sells in the head horse business, and the hardest thing to build into a rope horse is the one thing you can’t teach—run.

Bigg Smoke, a 2023 palomino stallion by Tres Seis out of the $102,206 earner Vanilas Sudden Fame, comes with it bred in from both sides of his papers.

Bigg Smoke sells at Lot 4 Friday, Oct. 16, in the Old West Horse Sale in Amarillo, Texas, as a head horse prospect with Oklahoma’s Billie Jack Saebens—and a $1 million question waiting on him in 2027.

Haugen Land & Livestock consigns the stallion, who was started by Tyson Benson and has spent his 3-year-old year in Saebens’ practice pen in Nowata, Oklahoma.

“My dad worked his whole life to raise a horse of this quality,” Dee said. “I wish he was here to see him. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime animal. The only thing that stands out more than his pedigree is his physical versatility. He is a true athlete. Beauty and brains will get you a long ways but athleticism will seal the deal. We couldn’t be more proud.”

Run Is the Currency

Heading has turned into a speed event that needs a cow-horse handle. The horses winning the big checks are the ones that can leave hard, run to the cow and still give a header his shot. That’s why the sale ring keeps paying for pedigrees that can outrun a steer without running off.

Bigg Smoke’s sire, Tres Seis, is a 1999 brown stallion by Sixarun out of Our Third Delight by the Thoroughbred Reb’s Policy. He was a champion 2-year-old colt on the track with an SI 97 and $856,901 in earnings, and his foals have earned more than $31 million racing. He crossed over, too: according to Q-Stallions, his barrel offspring had earned more than $13.9 million as of October 2026. On the bottom, Bigg Smoke’s damsire is Dash Ta Fame, the all-time leading sire of barrel racing money earners, with more than $39 million in barrel progeny earnings.

Put another way, this is a colt bred to go fast who is being taught to rate. Saebens described exactly in Bigg Smoke.

“That horse rates the cow. He is talented and has a ton of speed, so we are working on harnessing that in all the right ways,” Saebens said. “We’ve already introduced quite a bit of speed. What we’re working on now is doing it several times in a row, under control. That’s a good place to be in for a 3-year-old.”

The work in the bridle is what turns that motor into a head horse.

And in the corner, Saebens is already building the finish.

“I’m setting him up for what I want when he’s finished: I run up, rope, he steps his hip over, gets his hind end in the ground and takes advantage of the cow—still about parallel with her.”

Benson’s Start, Saebens’ Finish

A colt’s first rides set his ceiling, and Bigg Smoke’s were with Tyson Benson. Benson has started many of the country’s top programs—like the Relentless Remuda and X Performance Horses.

Saebens has been one of the busiest names in the futurity pen in 2026. The two-time NFR heeler (2016–17) and 2022 BFI champion won the Solo Select Futurity Heading for the second straight year, banking $188,205 over two days in late September, and he was high call in the Old West 4-&-Under Heeling in Heber City in June on DF N Fena.

Bigg Smoke is also in barrel training with Saebens’ wife, Ivy Saebens, the 2019 NFR average champion—so the buyer is getting a prospect that has been ridden by two NFR-caliber hands in two events.

The Pedigree

BIGG SMOKE

TRES SEIS x VANILAS SUDDEN FAME x DASH TA FAME

2023 palomino stallion, AQHA 6293381 (embryo transfer)

Second dam: SX Frenchmans Vanila (by Frenchmans Guy)

Consignor: Haugen Land & Livestock | Dee Haugen, 605-490-1351

Selling: Old West Horse Sale, Oct. 16, 6 p.m. Central, Amarillo Tri-State Fairgrounds | Hip TK

The stallion’s dam, Vanilas Sudden Fame (Dash Ta Fame x SX Frenchmans Vanila), is a full sister to NFR mare Dash Ta Vanila, the dam of Lisa Lockhart’s NFR round-winning mare Rosas Cantina CC. Vanilas Sudden Fame won over $104,000 herself, and her second dam SX Frenchmans Vanila, was barrel racing’s first futurity Triple Crown winner and helped Amanda Clayman to the 2004 NFR. Vanilas Sudden Fame won the KOHR QH Barrel Futurity and was second in both the Diamonds & Dirt Futurity and Slot Race in 2015. She has produced seven money earners led by Sudden Hero ($65,138), and Bigg Smoke is a full brother to Three Times Famous ($17,604).

The Million-Dollar Math

Buying Bigg Smoke in Amarillo makes him an official Old West Sale Graduate, and that status follows the horse, not the rider. As a 2023 foal, he is a 4-year-old in 2027—exactly the age class the Road to the Million targets. To collect the $1 million bonus, a Sale Graduate has to win the main pot of the 4-&-Under Pre-Futurity Heading, Heeling or Breakaway at the Old West Rope Horse Futurity in Heber City, Utah. There is no extra entry fee to be eligible. If more than one Sale Graduate wins a main pot, the $1 million is split pro-rata by entry count across divisions.

He doesn’t have to win it all to get paid. The Guaranteed Sale Graduate Side Pot pays five deep in each discipline at every Old West 4-&-Under event, on top of the main pot, to Sale Graduates that make the short round. A horse that finishes third overall but is the high-placing graduate wins the side pot. Beginning in 2027, Old West extends those side pots to a combined 5–6-Year-Old Sale Graduate Division in the Open, Intermediate and Limited, so the eligibility keeps paying through his 6-year-old year. Old West says more than $3 million will be available exclusively to Sale Graduates in 2027.

Ownership transfers after the sale need written approval from Old West to keep a horse eligible.

Sale Details

The Old West Horse Sale runs Friday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. Central at the Amarillo Tri-State Fairgrounds, 3301 SE 10th Ave., during the Old West World Championships. The sale preview is Thursday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. during the Las Tunas Tequila Party, following the Non-Pro Heading and Heeling. Online bidding runs through CCI.live, with registration opening four days before the sale and a $1,000 pre-authorized card hold required to bid. Radiographs are available to licensed veterinarians through Asteris; contact Rexann Morrison at 737-299-2045.

For more on Bigg Smoke, contact Dee Haugen at 605-490-1351.