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 1909 Stakes Old Mile
Pos. Horse Jockey Trainer Owner
1 PRIMER Walter Earl W Waugh Duke of Portland 10/1
2 VALENS F Wootton R C Dawson Lord Carnarvon 11/8 fav
3 SIR ARCHIBALD Danny Maher Atty Persse Mr A Basset 100/30
4 CARROUSEL R Keeble Leach Mr H J King 100/8
5 RUSHCUTTER W Saxby Brewer Mr Lionel Robinson 7/1
6 ST MICHAN B Lynham Captain Dewhurst Mr J Daly 8/1
7 EDNAM Will Griggs Sherwood jnr Sir R Waldie-Griffith 100/6
8 REGENT C Trigg Alec Taylor Sir William Bass 100/6
9 JETTISON W Halsey Braime Mr F Alexander 20/1
10 TATHODAYA C Ringstead J Powney Mr Wyndham 20/1
The Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course was on Friday 18th June 1909 and the winner, a bay colt by St Simon out of Breviary won a first prize of 2490 sovereigns (equivalent to £303,000 in 2020). Over round 128%
Hardwicke Stakes Group 2 1 mile 4 furlongs 1879
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1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909