Royal Ascot 2024 day one: St James’s Palace Stakes and more – live

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"You appear to be very joyful both in your tone and appearance."

Chris Stickels, who is referred to as the clerk of the course in racing jargon, has the responsibility of readying the crucial Ascot grass, and it appears that he is extremely calm this season.

As stated in Greg's introduction, the track condition for day one is: Good to Firm.

Every day at this time, we will publish the going stick readings. However, it may not be useful due to the predicted weather being stable. It's possible that watering the plants will change things. Currently, there is no significant benefit to either side of the straight track.

At 8am, the readings on the GoingStick were as follows: 8.0 on the Stands' side, 7.9 in the Centre, and 8.1 on the Far side.

Greetings to the first day of Royal Ascot! The entrance has been accessible for about 60 minutes and attendees dressed in their best attire are arriving in large numbers.

Greetings from Berkshire, where Royal Ascot 2024 has commenced. As the renowned tune goes, "every nobleman, earl, and lord is present/All who ought to be present are present/What an incredible and utterly remarkable display: the inaugural Ascot day."

For those who value tradition, there's no day that beats this one during the week. The event includes three top-level races, the initial big race of the season for young male horses, and the long-standing Ascot Stakes Handicap, which covers a distance of two-and-a-half miles over the Gold Cup route. What's even more exciting is that this year, the St James's Palace Stakes will have winners from the 2,000 Guineas in England, Ireland, and France, which hasn't happened since 2016. This is certainly going to be a thrilling mid-afternoon experience, like the perfect combination of a delicious scone with jam on top.

Currently, the weather is in our favor! The track is rated as good-to-firm after we watered it with 5mm of water overnight. The straight course is equally good on both sides, with a GoingStick reading of 8.1 on the far side and 8.0 against the stand rail. We are hoping for no significant showers except for Friday, which looks like the only day this week that we may experience some rain.

There's always a magical aura surrounding Royal Ascot, almost as if it's stuck in a never-ending cycle with small adjustments made to the hats and dresses. However, there are plenty of events happening this year, both within and outside of the racing environment.

This week, many people will closely examine the number of people attending the royal meeting to see if there is a sudden decrease in attendance like what happened at Cheltenham and Aintree this year. Those important individuals in the racing industry who will be present will also have a lot to say about how the sport will fare under the new Labour government, which is currently predicted at a 1-33 chance on Betfair.

Here are our choices for all seven races on the Tuesday card. The Queen Anne Stakes is scheduled to begin at 2:30pm and a ceremonial parade featuring the royals will proceed along the course at approximately 2pm, for those interested. It has not been officially confirmed whether the King and Queen will attend, but since they've renamed one of the races after him, it would be impolite if they didn't show up.