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 1902 Stakes Old Mile
Pos. Horse Jockey Trainer Owner
1 JOSHUA W Halsey John Dawson Lord Ellesmere 100/7
2 PREEN Lewis Grensil Lord Carnarvon 100/7
3 KUMMERBUND Johnny Reiff James Waugh Mr R W B Jardine 20/1
4 CAP & BELLS II Danny Maher Leach Mr Foxhall Keene 20/1
5 MERCANDER J H Martin Sherwood jnr Sir R Waldie-Griffith 100/8
6 BELLANRAE H Spencer Huggins Mr W C Whitney 20/1
7 POM POM W Lane Alfred Hayhoe Leopold De Rothschild 100/8
8 ST UCUMBER F Hardy Watson Mr W Raphael 100/12
9 PERSEUS Joe Childs Richard Marsh Mr Arthur James 7/1
10 CARO Smith George Lambton Duke of Portland 100/7
11 CUPBEARER Sam Loates John Porter Duke of Westminster 4/7 fav
The Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course was on Friday 20th June 1902 and the winner, a bay colt by Childwick out of None The Wiser won a first prize of 2653 sovereigns (equivalent to £329,000 in 2020). Over round 139%
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 1897 1898 1899
1900 1901 1902