Marshua

Marshua (foaled March 19, 1962) was a multi Graded stakes winning American Thoroughbred racemare bred and raced by Helene D. Gilroy, a partner with her husband in the Missouri based Interstate Gas Corporation.

Marshua was sired by Nashua out of Emardee, by Heliopolis.¹ In 1964, she was ranked second in her class of two-year-olds. She made 16 starts that year and was in the money 15 times, or 94% of the time. The highlight of that season was her victory in the prestigious Selima Stakes at Laurel Park Racecorse in Maryland.¹ Having led all the way around the 1-1/16 mile event, she battled Queen Empress through the stretch to win by a fading neck. Queen Empress was later named American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. In addition to the Selima, Marshua won the Schuylerville Stakes and the Marguerite Stakes in her freshman year.²¹

At age three, Marshua ran second in the Acorn Stakes and won the filly classic Coaching Club American Oaks.³ She retired with a record of nine wins, six seconds and four thirds in 21 starts with career earnings of $317,599.¹

In 1987, Laurel Park Racecourse named a race in her honor: the six-furlong Marshua Stakes run every February.