Weakest Hardwicke ever ?

Who was the group 1 horse ??

werent a great chesham either

Chesham rarely is a good race pre Ascot, full of a number of unknown unexposed horses, however often the winner is decent.

The winner is now a 2 times Group 2 winner and easy Group 2 winner at that, and was a decent 2nd in the St Ledger, that would suggest he is a Group 1 horse.

quite a few races this week have had a thin look to them imo

Multiple group 1 winning Cracksman should have instead run in a group 2 as an alternative to the premier race of the week for which he was long odds on for

He's not a 10f horse ideally though is he Cider, he looks like he wants 12f these days. One could argue would upgrading the Hardwicke to Group 1 make it attract better horses. Given there is no older horse 12f Group 1 at the meeting, it seems strange, given it's the premium trip in horse racing.

There's zero value in running him in that under a penalty, unless they were desperate for a RA win. 10F is preferable for the breeding sheds. They would have expected to have won the PoW comfortably anyway, hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I agree in many ways, but he is already 2 times Group 1 winner at 10f, and his Group 1 win at Epsom over 12f was far from impressive. A runaway winner at Royal Ascot over 12f would have boosted his L'Arc and King George claims and increased his value.

Cracksman would have been considered the best middle distance colt in training in Europe (probably still is). Opting for a group 2 in the middle of the season at the most prestigious meeting just wasn't ever going to happen!

I personally wouldn't have looked at it as a negative myself. I just don't get why there isn't a Group 1 12f race at the meeting.