Fifteen horses started in the race won by Cardinal Beaufort, ridden by Dennis Fitzpatrick,[5] with Lord Grosvenor's colts Plantagenet second and Goth third.

[5] The running was also notable for a collision between Mr. Best's colt by Dungannon and a group of spectators on horseback that had crossed the racetrack before all of the Derby horses had finished the race.

[8] At Lewes on 1 August, Cardinal Beaufort was second in a 130-guinea sweepstakes race, losing to Lord Darlington's unnamed colt by Sir Peter Teazle.

He first ran for his new owner at the Newmarket First Spring Meeting on 24 April, losing a match race to Colonel Mellish's colt Staveley.

[12] A few days later at the same meeting, Cardinal Beaufort forfeited a match race with Staveley, paying Colonel Mellish 400 guineas.

In April at Newmarket, Cardinal Beaufort received an unspecified amount forfeiture from Lord Darlington's horse Zodiac.

[21] At the Second Spring Meeting at Newmarket on 27 April, Cardinal Beaufort lost a match race to the mare Meteora[22] and was second in the 50-guinea Jockey-Club Plate to Lord Darlington's colt Pavilion.

Cardinal Beaufort was fourth in the first class of the Oatlands Stakes at the Craven meeting in April, losing to the filly Nymphina and the horses Hawk and Cerberus.

[32] Cardinal Beaufort was listed as "dead" in the index of the 1808 edition of The Racing Calendar,[33] having died in late January before the start of the 1809 season in April.

[34] At Newmarket on 17 April, General Gower paid a forfeiture to Lord Sackville's horse Bustard due to Cardinal Beaufort's death.