Kentucky's Normandy Farm on an International Stage

When Nancy Polk, the owner and property manager of Lexington, Kentucky's Normandy Farm, bought Miss Hot Salsa for $100,000 at the 2003 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, she couldn't have imagined that she would give her and the farm its first Breeders' Cup champion. But 12 years later, when Mongolian Saturday (Any Given Saturday) captured the 2015 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland Racecourse, Polk was in attendance.

“It was thrilling,” Polk said.

An equally large stage, an equally big thrill and an equally tough challenge await Mongolian Saturday when he runs in the Hong Kong Sprint December 13 at Sha Tin Racecourse. Normandy Farm bred Mongolian Saturday, who is out of graded stakes placed Miss Hot Salsa (Houston).

Though Normandy Farm isn't the most well-known operation in Lexington, it has bred some stakes horses in the past, like stakes-placed Hungarian Boat Baby (Silver Ghost).

Polk, originally from Michigan, bought Normandy Farm in 1997. Her husband Ralph introduced her to horse racing, and the two would travel just over the bridge from Michigan to Canada's Windsor Raceway to enjoy the races. When her husband passed away, Polk sought a change from her travel agency business.

“I had always loved horses,” Polk said. “And I fell in love with Normandy Farm.”

Polk had never run a farm before and quickly found out that maintaining a 250-acre thoroughbred farm had its challenges. That was especially true for the seemingly ancient Normandy Farm.

A farmhouse on the property dates back to the 1790s–just about as old as Lexington itself. Normandy Farm currently has five barns on the premises. The farm is named after one of those barns–the historic Normandy Barn.

Joseph Widener built the Normandy Barn in the 1920s. A World War I pilot in the United States Military, Widener built the barn as a fulfillment to a war-time vow. Widener's plane was shot down and crashed flying over Normandy, France during the war. The French Resistance sheltered Widener in a countryside barn that had ceramic animals engraved in the building for good luck. Widener vowed that if he ever made it out alive, he would build a replica of the barn in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky.

When he returned home at war's end, Widener went to work on building the Normandy Barn. In 1927, it was finished. And today the Normandy Barn still stands. Bronzed into the foundation of the structure are ceramic figures that include cats, roosters, and jockeys. They're for good luck.

Widener was lucky enough to purchase some historic thoroughbreds as well. He bought a stallion named Fair Play and a mare named Mahubah–the parents of Man o' War.

Today, a strapping statue of Fair Play stands at Normandy Farm equine cemetery. Fair Play and Mahubah are buried there along with many others, including Whirlaway's grand dam Ormonda.

It's often those horses deep into the progeny lines that make all the difference in producing the next great thoroughbred champion. Just ask Les Brinsfield, a retired bloodstock agent of 30 years. Brinsfield provided Polk's Normandy Farm with the matings that produced Mongolian Saturday. As a bloodstock agent, Brinsfield's matings have yielded some great winners throughout the years, most notably two-time Eclipse award-winning Ashado and 2000 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Kona Gold.

When Mongolian Saturday crossed the wire first in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, Brinsfield watched the race at home on television. At first, Brinsfield didn't even realize that the winning horse was one of his matings.

“I had sort of lost track of him,” Brinsfield said. “I really only follow stakes winners and [Mongolian Saturday] was a five-year-old who hadn't won a stakes yet.”

It was only after Brinsfield looked up the 2015 Turf Sprint winner's pedigree, when he realized that the horse was part of his doing.

“I almost fainted,” Brinsfield said with a chuckle.

Brinsfield paired Polk's mare Miss Hot Salsa with Any Given Saturday because the two both had Seattle Slew in their breeding lines. The “doubling up” of Seattle Slew is a recipe for success, according to Brinsfield, because of the linebreeding it produces with broodmare La Troienne, considered one of the most influential broodmares in history. Seattle Slew's mother, My Charmer, is a 3×3 to full sisters Striking and Busher. Out of Baby League, they are descendants of the legendary La Troienne.

It took Mongolian Saturday 31 starts to get his first graded stakes win, but when it came, it was on horse racing's biggest stage and in a $1 million Grade I event. Prior to his big win in the Turf Sprint, Mongolian Saturday had won a few allowance optional claimers. He had run his heart out in multiple graded stakes, only to come up short in the end.

“He's a tenacious horse as you can see looking at his record,” Polk said. “He's run so many times and has been successful, but he ran a lot of seconds. I kept thinking, 'Is he ever going to get a first?' Well he finally did, and at the Breeders' Cup, which made it all the more exciting for us.”

That tenacity, and the classic American bloodlines coursing through Mongolian Saturday's veins, might just help him win the Hong Kong Sprint.