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 1991 Stakes 1 1/2 miles
Pos. Horse Jockey Trainer Owner
1 ROCK HOPPER Pat Eddery Sir Michael Stoute Maktoum Al Maktoum 5/6 fav
2 TOPANOORA Christy Roche Jim Bolger Mrs E McMahon 8/1
3 SPRITSAIL Willie Carson Sir Henry Cecil Gillian, Lady Howard De Walden 7/1
4 DUKE OF PADUCAH Ray Cochrane Guy Harwood Mr J Garcia-Roady 25/1
5 DEAR DOCTOR Lester Piggott J E Hammond Henri Chalhoub 7/1
6 SESAME Walter Swinburn David Morley Mr Christopher Spence 25/1
7 DOLPOUR Steve Cauthen David Elsworth Mr Geoffrey Greenwood 25/1
8 GAME PLAN Michael Roberts Clive Brittain Mrs Harold Phillips 20/1
9 DOWN THE FLAG Bruce Raymond Ben Hanbury Mr M Kura 12/1
The Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course was on Friday 21st June 1991 and the winner, a bay horse by Sharif Dancer out of Cormorant Wood won a first prize of £58,299 (equivalent to £128,000 in 2020). Over round 115%
Hardwicke Stakes Group 2 1 mile 4 furlongs 1879
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