Royal Ascot: Hardwicke Stakes

The Hardwicke Stakes, held on the final day of the Royal meeting, is a Group 2 race over 1 mile 3 furlongs and 211 yards and is open to horses aged four years or older. The race is named in honour of the 5th Earl of Hardwicke, the Master of the Buckhounds in Benjamin Disraeli’s government from 1874 to 1880. The race was named in his honour in 1879, but he was an inveterate gambler who had huge debts with Agar-Robartes Bank and had to try to sell his Wimpole Hall Estate in Cambridgeshire in 1891. However, it failed to sell at auction and Lord Robartes, chairman of the Bank, had to accept the Estate in settlement of the debt.
Early history:- The inaugural running of the Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course took place on Friday 13th June 1879 with £2000 added prize money and a massive 168 subscribers at 10 sovereigns each. The race was won by Lord Bradford's Chippendale, beating Lord Falmouth's Silvio and Mr W Crawfurd's Lancastrian by a head and 10 lengths in 2 minutes 56 seconds.
Hardwicke Stakes 1896 Stakes Old Mile
Pos. Horse Jockey Age/weight Owner
1 SHADDOCK Morny Cannon John Porter 3-8st 5lbs Duke of Westminster 11/8 fav
2 DUNROBIN F Finlay Braime 3-7st 7lbs Mr H T Barclay 8/1
3 SATI Herbert Toon C Waugh 4-8st 11lbs Prince Soltykoff 100/12
4 BUTTERFLY Bradford Tom Jennings jnr 4-9st 7lbs Mr L Brassey 7/1
5 BAY RONALD Tommy Loates Tom Jennings jnr 3-7st 7lbs Mr L Brassey 7/2
6 COYLTON Allsopp John Ryan 3-7st 7lbs Mr J H Houldsworth 20/1
7 LADY ROBERTS Fagan Bates 4-8st 4lbs Sir R Jardine 10/1
8 FABIAN Sam Loates Golding 3-7st 7lbs Mr R Labaudy 100/8
The Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course was on Friday 19th June 1896 and the winner, a chesnut horse by St Serf, won a first prize of 2620 sovereigns from 62 subscribers (equivalent to £340,000 in 2020). Over round 121%
Hardwicke Stakes Group 2 1 mile 4 furlongs 1879
                  1879
1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896