Good morning. It was a bit drizzly this morning at Ascot but it has had minimal impact on the racing surface. The going for day two of Royal Ascot is: Good to Firm and there’s very little between the different sides of the track.

GoingStick at 8.30am:
Stands’ side: 8.9
Centre: 8.7
Far side: 8.5
Round course: 7.6

We have two non-runners so far so cross these off your list of possible wagers …
2.30pm Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2)
28 Your Song ( sold at Goffs London Sale on Monday and off to America)
5.35pm Kensington Palace Stakes (Fillies’ Handicap)|
20 Song N Dance (vet’s certificate – infection)

Good morning from a somewhat overcast royal racecourse, where France’s racing superstar, Daryz, will attempt to follow up the footballers’ impressive showing against Senegal yesterday evening when he goes to post for the Group One Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 4.20pm.

The feature event is the only Group One on today’s card after the meeting kicked off with three in the first four races on Tuesday, but it is perhaps the week’s most eagerly-awaited race as it pits Daryz, last season’s Arc winner, against Ombudsman, bidding to follow up his win in this race last year, and two more live contenders at each-way prices in Minnie Hauk, the Arc runner-up, and Almaqam, a Group One winner in Ireland last time out.

Arc winners are hardly an unfamiliar sight at Ascot, but they tend to run in the King George, in July, rather than at the Royal meeting, and Daryz is the first reigning Arc winner to run at this meeting since Treve finished third in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in 2014.

The second day’s card is nothing if not varied, as the five-furlong Queen Mary for juvenile fillies at 2.30 is swiftly followed by the Queen’s Vase, over a mile-and-three-quarters, where Point Of Law, the second royal runner of the week, will set off at around 8-1. The main handicap on the card, meanwhile, offers the unmissable sight of a 30-runner field hammering down the straight mile in pursuit of the Royal Hunt Cup.

It is cloudy but dry at the track and the going is good-to-firm on both the round and straight tracks, after 5mm of water was applied overnight. Picks for the seven races on today’s card are here and the live blog will be here throughout the afternoon and early evening until the last runner in the Windsor Castle Stakes is safely back in its box.