Hard Ridden

Hard Ridden finished second in his only race as a two-year-old in 1957.

On his three-year-old debut, Hard Ridden ran second in a race at the Curragh. He was then returned to the same course for the Irish 2000 Guineas and won impressively by four lengths from the future Irish Derby winner, Sindon, with Paddy's Point third.

The favourite for the Derby, Alcide, was withdrawn from the race after being “got at” (deliberately injured) in his stable, leaving the race looking very open. Hard Ridden, however, as the son of a sprinter, was thought unlikely to be effective over one and a half miles and started at 18/1 in a field of twenty in front of a crowd estimated at 200,000 including the Queen.[2] Ridden by the fifty-one-year-old Charlie Smirke,[3] Hard Ridden was held up in the early stages as the leaders set a moderate pace. In the straight, Smirke sent Hard Ridden through a gap on the inside to take the lead and go clear. In the closing stages Hard Ridden extended his advantage to win by five lengths from Paddy's Point and Nagami, becoming the first Irish-trained winner of the race since Orby in 1907.[4] Immediately after the race Smirke announced "That's it, I've ridden my last Derby!"[5]

Hard Ridden did not appear again on the racecourse until late July, when he ran in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. He finished unplaced behind Ballymoss and was shortly afterwards retired to stud.[1]