Gary Knapp stood quietly behind the stage at the Keeneland Sales Pavilion and watched as two of the horse industry’s biggest players changed his life.

The owner of Monticule Farms – a longtime professor with a doctorate in marketing and a minor in applied statistics who established the small Lexington farm in 1989 – knew the yearling he’d bred from Danzig out of Sharp Minister was valuable. Knapp studied long and hard before matching up Danzig – one of the most successful sires of all-time – and Sharp Minister, taking everything from pedigree to body shape into consideration in hopes of getting the best of both thoroughbreds into one promising colt.

But even the even-keeled Knapp could only look on in quiet disbelief as the bidding between Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai, and John Magnier, the owner of Ireland-based Coolmore Stud, quickly passed $4 million.

With the crowd in the back abuzz as two of the sport’s heavyweights battled for 10 minutes, Knapp knew his farm, whose motto is "Making Our Mark," had done just that