Normandy Farm Owner Polk Dies

During television coverage of the Beverly D. Stakes (G1T) Aug. 11 from Arlington International Racecourse, trainer Ken McPeek told NBCSN that Normandy Farms' owner Nancy Polk had died earlier that day.

Daddys Lil Darling, a Normandy Farm homebred grade 1 winner, would finish fourth in the Beverly D. Saturday. 

Daddys Lil Darling also finished fourth in the 2016 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Santa Anita Park, one year after her half brother, Mongolian Saturday, bred by Normandy Farm, won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Keeneland.

Polk purchased Miss Hot Salsa, dam of Daddys Lil Darling and Mongolian Saturday, for $100,000 at the 2003 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

A Michigan native, Polk purchased Normandy Farm in 1997 following the death of her husband, Ralph, who introduced her to racing when the couple would cross the bridge from Detroit into Canada to enjoy Standardbred racing at Windsor Raceway.

"I had always love horses," Polk said in a Breeders' Cup bio, "and I fell in love with Normandy Farm." 

When she purchased the 250-acre Normandy Farm in Lexington, it included an old farmhouse and five barns on the land, one of which is the historic Normandy Barn and the reason for the farm's name. The barn was built by Joseph Widener as the fulfillment of a pledge he made in World War I.

As a United States pilot, Widener had been shot down over the French province of Normandy. French Resistance sheltered him in a country barn and he vowed to build a replica of the barn in his hometown of Lexington if he lived out the war. He finished building the barn in 1927. 

The following is a Q & A with Polk published prior to the 2017 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). Primarily a commercial breeder, Polk sold the majority of horses she bred and rarely raced them. In April 2017, however, she had two horses in her racing stable: graded stakes winner Daddy's Lil Darling, who finished second in the Oaks and later win the American Oaks (G1T), and a dazzling 2-year-old filly named Sunny Skies, who won by nine lengths April 27 at Keeneland and became freshman sire Animal Kingdom 's first Northern Hemisphere winner. Sunny Skies would later win the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs. Polk talked with BloodHorse MarketWatch editor Eric Mitchell about her newest star, Sunny Skies.

BloodHorse MarketWatch: Sunny Skies' dam, Skyscape, appears to have been acquired privately. How did you find her?

Nancy Polk: Kristin Mulhall and her partner owned the mare. We had gotten her to come to the farm and board with us for two or three years. When they decided to break up the partnership, they asked us if we wanted her. She is a big, pretty chestnut mare and had already produced a stakes winner, so we reached an agreement. Plus we already knew her. She has been nothing but pleasure and we've done really well with her.

BH: Who has the mare been bred to this year?

NP: We are going to retire her. She is 22 and going out with a bang.

BH: You bought back Sunny Skies at the 2016 Keeneland September sale for $47,000 and decided to race her. Do you often race your buy-backs?

NP: I am almost exclusively in the business to sell. I'm really not a racing person per se. This was more about me wanting to keep the bloodlines going. Skyscape was getting older and when the filly didn't sell, I thought this was the right thing to do, to see if she could run and then make her a broodmare. So far it looks like she can.

BH: You were at Keeneland for Sunny Skies' debut. Did you have any clue you would see such a performance?

NP: She had been working well and had a bullet, so we felt she had promise. She broke well and moved quickly up to the front, which worried me a little that she was doing too much too soon. But then she just kept going. It was wonderful to watch.

BH: With the success of Daddy's Lil Darling, can you believe what your horses are doing at the races right now?

NP: Seriously, it is unbelievable. I can't get over it. For a person who doesn't really race, I'm up to it, up to my ears. 

BH: Are you nervous about the Oaks?

NP: Not yet, but I will be. I'm pacing myself.