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 1912 Stakes Old Mile
Pos. Horse Jockey Trainer Owner
1 STEDFAST F Wootton George Lambton Lord Derby 2/9 fav
2 MUSHROOM Fred Rickaby Joseph Butters Mr T Baring 100/6
3 ETON BOY Danny Maher Carter Mr Nickalls 10/1
4 DON RENALDO H Robbins George Lambton Sir Edgar Vincent 20/1
5 OISEAU BLEU Wal Griggs Peter Gilpin Mr L Neumann 20/1
6 ADAMITE J Clark Alec Taylor Mr R Walker 20/1
7 BONFIRE A Whalley W Waugh Mr G D Smith 20/1
8 LANCASTER C Foy George Lambton Mr George Lambton 20/1
The Hardwicke Stakes over a mile and a half of the Swinley Course was on Friday 21st June 1912 and the winner, a chestnut colt by Chaucer out of Be Sure won a first prize of 2550 sovereigns (equivalent to £298,000 in 2020). Over round 121%
Hardwicke Stakes Group 2 1 mile 4 furlongs 1879
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