Monticule Farm

2007 Record: (17-5-1-3)

2007 Earnings: $295,867

2007 Win %: 29% In-The-Money %: 52%

Owner(s): Dr. Gary B. Knapp
Born: Oct. 24, 1943, in Fergus Falls, Minn.
Residence: Austin, Texas, with homes in Lexington, Ky. and Palm Beach, Fla.
Family: wife Emily and daughter Jessica Knapp-Ziegler
Location: Monticule Farm is in Lexington
Education: B.A. in business administration and business management from Morehead State University in 1965; M.A. in business administration and marketing from Minnesota State University-Mankato in 1967; Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Kentucky in 1977 ... Joined the faculty at the University of Houston in 1977 as a professor of marketing and has taught at various other universities
Professional Background: While a tenured professor at the University of Houston, he began a consulting business, Knapp Securities, Inc., which specialized in mortgage-backed securities, and ran that company from 1981 to 1995. In 1995, he co-founded Park Acquisitions, Inc., which acquired Park Communications, Inc., a diversified media and communications company with television, radio and newspaper interests. Dr. Knapp was the company's chairman until it was sold in 1997 ... In 2003, he acquired equity ownership in Equix (www.equixbio.com), a consulting business which assesses the athletic potential of Thoroughbreds using biomechanics ... He also is associated with Case The Race (www.casetherace.com), which applies the biomechanical data in handicapping. The system derives a CASE (coordination, aerobic efficiency, stride quality, endurance) number, which provides handicappers with the rating of a horse's athletic ability, rather than making picks or selections
Web site: www.monticule.com
Racing Background: "I've always had a love of horses, from the time I rode my first pony when I was three," he said. "I always rode horses and played polo. When I was a graduate student at the University of Kentucky in Lexington during the seventies, I became captivated by the Thoroughbred industry." ... Although he left Kentucky after he earned in Ph.D. and pursued business interests in Texas, he always followed the industry
Breeding/Racing Operation: In 1989, he purchased the initial 200-acre piece of land that would become Monticule Farm ... Monticule is an old French term referring to a large hill or mountain ... He did not devote his full attention to the farm's operation until 1997, when he began buying mares and started the breeding operation ... The farm has grown to 630 acres, although only 250 of them are in current use, while the rest are being developed for pastures ... There currently are 20 mares and 16 weanlings at Monticule; the babies are both racing and sales prospects ... In 2001, Monticule began consigning at the Keeneland sales ... In 2006, a Danzig colt out of the Monticule mare Sharp Minister ignited a bidding war at Keeneland's September yearling sale and the hammer fell at $9.2 million ... Within the first few years of purchasing the land that became Monticule, Dr. Knapp started a tree nursery there and is dedicated to improving the landscape. "We've planted several thousand evergreens and about 10,000 deciduous trees of all varities," he said ...Vino Tinto (eighth, 2003 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies) was the farm's only previous Breeders' Cup starter ... Knapp had bought her dam, Leisurely, while she was in foal ... In 2007, Prussian competed in the inaugural running of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, finishing off the board. "In the Equix system, the highest rating is five diamonds," he said. "There are only two horses who have five diamonds. (Recent maiden winner at Keeneland) St. Joe is one, and Prussian is the other." ... At the 1998 Keeneland November breeding stock sale, Knapp purchased a Lear Fan mare in foal to Nuryev. The resulting filly was named Mien, who won one of two starts for Knapp before being retired. She had a colt by Gulch named Snake River Canyon, then a 2005 colt, eventually named Big Brown, by Boundary. Big Brown was offered at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale and bought for $60,000 by pinhooker Eddie Woods ... Mien, from the female family of 1997 champion older female Hidden Lake has a 2007 filly by Touch Gold, a 2008 filly by Belong to Me and has been bred back to Stormy Atlantic.