Making the Grade: Nasa

Nasa proved that he could be a serious Triple Crown contender when winning the Pennsylvania Nursery. (Photo by EQUI-Photo)
Making the Grade, which will run through the 2015 Belmont Stakes, focuses on the winners of the big races, usually from the previous weekend, who could impact the next Triple Crown. We’ll be taking a close look at impressive winners and evaluating their chances to win important races based upon ability, running style, connections (owner, trainer, jockey) and pedigree. 
This week we take a closer look at Nasa, winner of the $100,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes on Dec. 6 at Parx Racing. 

The focus of this weekly feature is almost exclusively graded stakes winners with a chance to make some noise on the Triple Crown trail, hence the name “Making the Grade”. But at this point in the year the graded stakes schedule is much thinner than usual, so occasionally I like to profile a potential contender that has ignited my enthusiasm. Nasa has done just that in his four starts in 2014.

Nasa
Bay Colt
Sire (Father): Smarty Jones
Dam (Mother): Shootforthestars, by Seattle Slew
Owner: Someday Farm
Breeder: Pat Chapman (Pa.)
Trainer: John Servis

Ability: OK, I’ll admit it; my first glance at this horse’s connections and pedigree piqued my interest. I was, and am, a huge fan of Smarty Jones. I was there at the eighth pole at Belmont Park for his heartbreaking 2004 runner-up finish to Birdstone in the Belmont Stakes. But this profile is about much more than my fandom. This 2-year-old Smarty Jones colt has serious potential.
After finishing second in his career debut at 5 furlongs (five-eighths of a mile), Nasa looked like a rocket ship in the stretch of his second start when he streaked to a 9 ¼-length romp going 7 furlongs (seven-eighths of a mile) at Laurel Park on Sept 27. Nasa then was given a shot in stakes competition in the 6 ½-furlong Christopher Elser Memorial Stakes on Nov. 16 at Parx Racing and finished a somewhat disappointing yet respectable third at 2-to-5 odds, improving his Equibase Speed Figure form 79 to 87. It was a decent race, but at that point I just figured he was another 2-year-old who looked like a potential star against hopelessly overmatched opposition in his first win and might struggle against better horses in his crop.
Nasa proved me wrong in his next start. He took control early in the 7-furlong Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes on a sloppy track and blazed to a 2 ¼-length score that earned a 109 Equibase Speed Figure.
Is it possible that the high speed figure was aided by the sloppy track? Absolutely. But I think it’s much more likely that we are seeing a young horse beginning to develop and mature into a talented racehorse. The 109 Equibase Speed Figure is second only to Daredevil, who earned a 110 in winning the Grade 1 Champagne, for the top speed figure by a 2-year-old in a stakes race in 2014.
NASA AFTER WINNING THE PENNSYLVANIA NURSERY

Running style: Like his sire, Smarty Jones, Nasa has a nice cruising speed that he uses for positioning early in races. He has been close to or on the lead in his two wins and father back in his two defeats, so it looks like perhaps his sire’s running style might also be Nasa’s best bet. Smarty Jones was fast enough to press a solid pace and get the jump on the opposition at the top of the stretch or just to take it to his challengers from the outset. Smarty Jones used that speed when winning the 2003 Pennsylvania Nursery by 15 lengths for a 110 Equibase Speed Figure, and Nasa followed his sire’s lead in that race.
It is positive for Nasa that he showed the ability to come from off the pace and win in his second start, because there will be races as the competition get tougher where another horse has more speed from the starting gate. The versatility to take command or drop in just behind the pacesetter opens up options for regular rider Kendrick Carmouche.

Previous Making the Grades
Competitive Edge
American Pharoah
Carpe Diem
Daredevil
Texas Red
Ocho Ocho Ocho
El Kabeir
Leave the Light On

Connections: For those of you who were racing fans in 2004 when Smarty-mania swept across the country, the names Pat Chapman, Someday Farm and John Servis most likely ring a bell.
Pat Chapman, along with her now-deceased husband, Roy, bred and raced Smarty Jones as Someday Farm. The Chapmans sold most of their horses after the death of their trainer Robert Camac, who picked out Smarty Jones’ dam, I’ll Get Along, for the Chapmans. But they held onto a promising colt by Elusive Quality out of I’ll Get Along who shared a birthday with Pat Chapman’s mom, Mildred, who as a child was nicknamed Smarty Jones.
Smarty’s career almost never got started. He fractured his skull and orbital bone while schooling in the starting gate but recovered to become the first unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977. He then rolled to an 11 ½-length runaway in the Preakness before coming up short in the Belmont Stakes.
John Servis trained Smarty Jones for the Chapmans and also trains Nasa. Prior to Smarty Jones, Servis’ best runner was multiple Grade 1 winner Jostle. Since Smarty Jones, he won a Grade 1 with Round Pond and trained multiple graded stakes winner Rockport Harbor. Nasa is one of four stakes winners this year for Servis, who has 1,426 career victories from 8,423 starters that have earned more than $41-million through Dec. 13.
Kendrick Carmouche has won more than 2,500 races since taking out his jockey’s license in 2000 with five graded stakes wins among 85 career stakes victories through Dec. 13. His most lucrative victory to date came aboard Researcher in the $615,000 Charles Town Classic Stakes in 2009. Carmouche has never had a mount in a U.S. Triple Crown race.
Pedigree: Smarty Jones retired to the breeding shed with great expectations and stood his first season at stud for $100,000 at Three Chimneys Farm in Versailles, Ky. His production in the breeding shed did not quite match his brilliance on the racetrack and he now stands in his home state of Pennsylvania for the Northview, Pa. branch of Northview Stallion Station.
Smarty Jones has developed into a nice regional sire in Pennsylvania with 25 stakes winners from 306 career starters, including Nasa’s Grade 1-winning full-brother (same dam, same sire) Centralinteligence. His graded stakes winners to date also include Rogue Romance, Backtalk, Cary Street, Old Time Hockey, Gilded Gem and Sunrise Smarty. His offspring have been effective on dirt and turf as well as sprinting and running in longer (route) races.
The bottom half of Nasa’s pedigree also offers reason for optimism. In addition to sibling Centralintelligence, Nasa is a half-brother (same dam, different sire) to three stakes-placed runners, including General Consensus, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Santa Barbara Handicap in 2010.
Nasa’s dam, Shootforthestars, by 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, was unraced but has 10 winners from 11 starters in the breeding shed.
His second dam (maternal grandmother), Lotta Dancing, won the Grade 3 Affectionately Handicap at 1 1/16 miles in 1996 and was second by a half-length in the Grade 2 Ladies Handicap at 1 ¼ in 1995. Lotta Dancing is the dam of Grade 2 winner and sire Fantasticat.
Nasa’s third dam (maternal great-grandmother), Lotka, by Danzig, also was an elite racemare, winning the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes in 1986 among five graded stakes wins at distances ranging from a mile to 1 ½ miles. Lotka produced three stakes winners.
Digging a little deeper into this half of Nasa’s pedigree also reveals a few other interesting names, including 1974 Kentucky Derby winner Cannonade and multiple Grade 1 winner Stephan’s Odyssey.
From a pedigree perspective, Nasa has every right to go on to be a top-class runner if he proves talented enough.