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 1899 Stakes Old Mile
Pos. Horse Jockey Age/weight Owner
1 NINUS C Wood G Platt 4-9st 10lbs Prince Soltykoff 7/4 fav
2 MANNERS Morny Cannon John Porter 3-8st 6lbs Duke of Portland 5/2
3 ST IA Tod Sloan Sherwood jnr 4-9st 7lbs Sir R Waldie-Griffith 100/8
4 HEIR MALE Sam Loates Cort 4-9st 10lbs Sir M Fitzgerald 9/2
5 VICTORIA MAY Otto Madden Richard Marsh 3-8st 5lbs Mr J W Larnach 20/1
6 STAGE VILLAIN Allsopp James Waugh 3-7st 12lbs Mr Russel 7/1
7 HELIANTHUS Rickaby H Enoch 4-8st 6lbs Mr Douglas Baird 20/1
8 BRIO Tommy Loates H Enoch 4-9st 0lbs Mr Douglas Baird 20/1
The Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course was on Friday 16th June 1899 and the winner, a chesnut horse by Sheen won a first prize of 2550 sovereigns from 58 subscribers (equivalent to £325,000 in 2020). Over round 119%
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