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 2010 Stakes 1 1/2 miles
Pos. Horse Jockey Trainer Owner
1 HARBINGER Ryan Moore Sir Michael Stoute Highclere Thoroughbreds 8/11 fav
2 DUNCAN William Buick John Gosden Normandie Stud 8/1
3 BARSHIBA Jimmy Fortune David Elsworth Me Jeff Smith 18/1
4 SANS FRONTIERES Tom Queally Jeremy Noseda Sir Robert Ogden 25/1
5 REDWOOD Michael Hills Barry Hills Khaled Abdulla 16/1
6 CROWDED HOUSE Kieren Fallon Brian Meehan Reddam/Burnell/Harvey 12/1
7 PETARA BAY Steve Drowne Robert Mills Mr B Eccleston 66/1
8 WAJIR Frankie Dettori Saeed Bin Suroor Godolphin 10/1
9 JUKEBOX JURY Royston Ffrench Mark Johnston Mr A D Spence 12/1
10 CLAREMONT Ahmed Ajtebi Mahmood Al Zarooni Godolphin 25/1
11 SOUTH EASTER Johnny Murtagh William Haggas Markus Jooste/Bernard Kantor 20/1
The Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half was on Saturday 19th June 2010 and the winner, a bay horse by Dansili out of Penang Pearl won a first prize of £70,962 (equivalent to £93,000 in 2020). Over round 119%
Hardwicke Stakes Group 2 1 mile 4 furlongs 1879
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