Racing Career
Owned by William Woodward, Jr.'s famous Belair Stud in Bowie, Maryland, Nashua was trained by Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons and ridden by jockey Eddie Arcaro. As a two-year-old in 1954 Nashua entered eight races, winning six and finishing second twice, a performance that earned him champion 2-year-old honors. The following year, he earned United States Horse of the Year awards from the Thoroughbred Racing Association, taking 21 of the 40 votes, and the publishers of Daily Racing Form.
Nashua won his famous match race with the great thoroughbred Swaps who had defeated him in the 1955 Kentucky Derby.
Following the death of William Woodward, Jr., the Belair Stud horses were auctioned off. In 1955 a syndicate purchased Nashua for a record $1,251,200 from the estate of William Woodward Jr., with majority interests owned by the Christopher J. Devine senior partner and founder of C.J. Devine & Co. the largest dealer in U.S. Government Securities from 1933 to 1963, Leslie Combs 2d, and John Hanes. John Wesley Hanes II and his wife Hope Yandell Hanes were involved not only in the syndication of Nashua but also, Royal Charger and My Babu. He was an Under Secretary of the Treasury in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration, the head of the New York Racing Association and a part owner in the company that made Hanes hosiery and underwear. In 1956 the syndicate leased Nashua to Combs to race under the Combs colors.
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