Royal Ascot Day 3 blog. Replay the blog as Big Orange triumphed.

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1800: Time to wrap things up and say goodbye. I'll be back in the morning fully refreshed with better tips, a positive outlook and a clean slate. More than 68,000 people were here today - I've every confidence that if you're heading off now to try and catch a train back to London, you'll be home by about 10pm. Good luck. At least you'll be able to watch the Gold Cup replay again and again with a smile on your face (unless, like me, you backed the favourite).

1755: Ascot clerk of the course Chris Stickels is out on the track now reviewing the condition of the turf before making a decision on watering.

1750: But, hey, Big Orange, right? That was a good race. And Frankel's had his first Royal Ascot winner, so that's good too. 

1744: Sorry about Utah. If you makes you feel any better, I had a decent bet on Atty Persse. Ante-post for the Derby.

1742: Another Godolphin winner. Another trainer. What a week. Atty Persse wins the last race.

1739: They're off for the final race today - the King George V Handicap.

1737: Also cheering for Utah is JP in Paris, who says: "Could Skybet possibly provide a bet such as all the winners of the straight course races of the day to come from the upper half of the draw...etc...it will save me from doing my head in big field handicaps only to be undone by the draw bias...rant over...I need nothing short of D-day kind of action on the Lucky last...go on Utah reach for the stars..."

It has been heartbreak hotel for a lot of punters today and I'm guessing you were on Indian Dandy, JP. Tough luck.

1735: Simon Foley emails to ask: What do you think of Utah’s chances in the last? Getting in the top 4? I have done surprisingly well on a EW Lucky 15 thanks to Cardsharp and Harbour Law and am being offered a reasonable cash out but it will be double that if Utah places. I’m leaning towards letting it roll. I wish cash out had never been invented."

Let it roll, Simon. I haven't the faintest idea about Utah's credentials, but every bone in my body says let it roll and pray that Seamie can squeeze a place out for you.

1730: Instead, here's some more from Michael Bell. "He gives his all and he's got a heart as big as himself. I can't praise his attitude enough. He wants to race and he's just a colossal racehorse. On fast ground, in the middle of summer, he's a monster."

1725: To be honest, that Gold Cup result has knocked everything else into the shade today. I haven't got much to offer on the Britannia other than that Ronald R went seriously close to giving Michael Bell and Bill Gredley a remarkable double and might well have delivered had the gap not closed just as it opened for the winner.

1710: Britannia Handicap result: 1st Bless Him 25/1 2nd Ronald R 16/1 3rd Tricorn 14/1 4th Indian Dandy 25/1.

Jamie Spencer, eh?

1657: At least we can all agree about the Britannia. Too hard.

1655: It's a game of opinions. MCarey writes: "He may be the world's best jockey, but he sure gave Order of St. George way too much to do there. Best horse in race and a horrible ride."

From where I was sat, it looked to me that he gave OOSG exactly the same ride as he did 12 months ago. But each to their own.

1645: Michael Bell describes the winner as "God's gift to a trainer" and it's hard to disagree. He is everything that's good about staying races on the Flat.

1635: Turning for home, Harbour Law gets to within a length of Big Orange, but he got no nearer - by the furlong-pole, that gap was back up to two lengths and if you take Order Of St George out, Big Orange has won by six. So much for stamina doubts!

Was Order Of St George either unlucky (no, that's how he was ridden) or the victim of an ill-judged ride (absolutely not)? Nonsense. And I backed him. He was just beaten by a really good, tough, talented, likeable, determined winner.

1630: I write this with nothing left in my wallet but tears and shattered hopes, but sometimes you have to take your (stupid top) hat off and say 'Wow'. Taken on for the lead for at least the first half of the race, I wondered whether James Doyle was being forced into doing too much too soon, but he absolutely stuck his head out like he wanted so, so badly. And although Order Of St George inched his way towards victory for the last two furlongs, I'm just not convinced that he quite wanted it as much.

1627: BIG ORANGE WINS - SO, SO BRAVE

1625: PHOTO!

1622: And they're orrrf. Big Orange straight to the front with Quest For More and Harbour Law.

1620: They're going in for the Gold Cup. Will it be 'Order, Order!' at the finish?

1616: The man who is calling them home on track, Simon Holt, goes for Simple Verse.

1613: John Gosden, it would seem, does not object to being called 'Johnny G', despite reports to the contrary.

1610: This is probably a hotter renewal than last year's Gold Cup. After all, we have two St Leger winners in the field, not to mention numerous established Cup horses with winning form at Group-race level. We also have the 2015 winner of this race and the one-horse enigma that is Sheikhzayedroad,  a horse who would be hard to kick out of the frame in almost any race over any trip from 10 furlongs upwards.

As for Order Of St George, the case is pretty clear. On the other hand, the case against is that we have a horse who has been beaten in four of his last five starts who is odds-on.

1604: Sky Bet are offering a Price Boost on Order Of St George, meaning the odds you get will be better than those available on the rest of the high street. Click here to check the latest price!

1600: It's Gold Cup time. Is it time for another Order Of St George demolition job, like that of 12 months ago? Or time for another sulky display like his offering on Champions Day at the end of last season?

1558: Peslier reports that the idea to come as late as possible on the winner was Gosden's plan - with four runners in the race, maybe the trainer was just covering his bases! He also says that the ground isn't as quick today as for the first two days of the meeting.

1555: Coronet had five lengths to find with Alluringly on Epsom form, but overturned that deficit in emphatic fashion. Quicker ground was a bit of an unknown, but she flew late to catch Hertford Dancer and Mori and clearly relished conditions.

1550: Didn't see that coming. Coronet bounces back from her fifth place in the Investec Oaks to win at 8/1 the Ribblesdale under Olivier Peslier.

1540: Heavens, it's time for the Ribblesdale already.

1530: Off camera, I am hearing, Saeed was asked about the recent Godolphin spat and insisted that he wished John Ferguson all the best and said it was "onwards and upwards". Hmm... I wonder what Sheikh Mohammed's former right-hand man is doing this week. Hopefully filling in the forms to get his jump's trainers licence back. It was hard not to always the get the feeling that deep down that life over the sticks was what really floated his boat.

1520: Benbatl, ridden more handily than at Epsom, had the perfect trip behind Taj Mahal, who set a reasonable early pace. In contrast, OOTG had to come wide having found a wall of horses in front of him two furlongs out. Was he unlucky? Hard to say.

Oisin Murphy is adamant in the winner's enclosure that Benbatl was the best horse in the race and he's probably about right - he certainly hadn't stepped backwards since his fifth in the Derby, even if I suspected he might just have been flattered at Epsom.

Murphy is a self-assured young chap but that was his first Royal Ascot winner, which goes some way towards explaining his ebullient celebrations. Some way. Although he stressed afterwards that his loyalties lie first with Sheikh Fahad's Qatar Racing operation, a big winner at a big meeting where Sheikh Mohammed is there to shake your hand straight afterwards is never a bad thing.

It was also a big winner for Saeed bin Suroor given his need to maintain his stable's presence in the Godolphin camp and three winners for other yards in the same silks already this week. As he came back in, almost every member of the massive Maktoum entourage shook his hand. There's no doubt that everyone wants him to do well.

1510: Benbatl wins the King Edward to scenes of considerable celebration from Oisin Murphy

1508: And now it's stablemate Taj Mahal who is being nibbled at. Mirage Dancer out to 13/2!

1505: The punters certainly seem to think he's a player. Having been tipped in our Irish Eyes column last night at 13/2, he's the red-hot 3/1 favourite now.

1500: An email from Kieren Taylor who writes: "Sioux Nation massive upset there,22 to 1 in places this morning,so obviously not unfancied,but unfortunately not by me! OrderOfTheGarter next then?"

He's got to be a big player, Kieren, with his French Guineas and French Derby form both looking pretty strong so far. All talk of the Ballydoyle string having a problem has dried up (which, in itself, makes Churchill's defeat all the more curious) and the fact that the cheekpieces are on today suggests they're going for broke with him now.

1448: Mister Manduro a non-runner later today - presumably to wait for the Queen's Vase tomorrow.

1445: Santry ran a massive race in second - I take my hat off to him. He tracked the pace set by McErin in that group and put his race to bed easily enough only to get caught out by a rival who was a good 10metres away on the other side of the track.

1440: Like the stable's 66/1 runner-up in the Jersey yesterday, this looks a classic case of a US-bred colt stepping up massively on an ordinary effort on soft ground with a huge run on quicker conditions. The question now is whether Sioux Nation will turn out to be another Johannesburg or another Waterloo Bridge?

1435: An unusually generously-priced winner for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore at 14/1, but as much as that a crucial clue for punters that the going looks just as quick on the far side of the track as the near side - only four horses stayed far side, and not only have they managed to finish first, fourth and sixth, but it was the one who raced closest to the far rail of that quartet who have struck.

1434: Sioux Nation wins from Santry and Cardsharp

1430: They're going in. A wide-open race to kick off with on a day that could prove tough to punters unless Order Of St George can do as expected in the Gold Cup.

1428: Last chance to play the Pick 7 and win £100,000 for nowt. 

1425: Plenty of cash coming for Mcerin. From a quick scan, I can't see any famous Mcerins on Google that he might be named after. Only Bobby McFerrin.

1420: Another leading contender here is National Stakes winner Havana Grey. Could owners the Global Racing Club become the latest syndicate to strike gold at the Royal meeting after Quiet Reflection last year and Heartache yesterday? Here's something on Quiet Reflection's victory from the InThePaddock.co.uk website suggesting she could be back in time for Haydock, which is good news.

1415: With John Velazquez having returned for family reasons to the US, David Flores gets the call-up to ride Wesley Ward's Mcerin here. If you don't know much about Flores, he's a 49-year-old Mexican who has been at the top of the jockeys' tree for fast approaching 30 years. He's had big winners around the world, including the UAE Derby for Godolphin back in the days when they were putting up US jockeys out of choice. Royal Ascot won't faze him - and he's even got experience on the track as I'm pretty certain he's been in the Shergar Cup too.

1405: Big hats are in this year. I know this because a lady on BBC Radio Berkshire told me earlier. The poor ladies in the carriages are doing that thing where they're holding on for grim life to their hats with one hand, while trying to look happy and relaxed at the same time.

1400: The royal procession has begun. Down the middle of the track. No sign of a bias to the stands' side here.

1340: That seemed to go quite well, I thought. 'Lots of hats' is 'Molti di capelli'. In case you ever go to Italy and need to buy... err... lots of hats.

1320: I'm about to do a preview of today's racing for Italian radio. This is very exciting. Just doing some swotting up. Yes - Si. No - No. Please - Per favore. Thank you - Grazie.

1315: No sign of the thunderstorms yet. Indeed, it seems a bit less humid now and I suspect the danger has passed - good job they slung another 5mm of water on last night.

1310: Once again, my invitation to join Her Majesty in the royal procession appears to have got lost in the post, but it's good to see a Mr and Mrs Butter make the line-up. I wonder if her first name is Flora...

1305: Don't forget, as if you could, that Sky Bet are offering their usual First-race special on the Norfolk - with stakes returned as free bets up to £20 if your horse is second or third. Not a bad offer at all, if you're looking for a bit of extra value. Click here to take advantage.

1300: An hour and a half to go until the first race and the Wesley Ward-trained Mcerin has been deposed by Declan Carroll's Santry as favourite for the Norfolk. I can't see it myself, much as I would like Declan Carroll to emulate Howard Johnson (twice) and take the prize back north. If there is to be a northern winner, I perfer the claims of It Dont Come Easy who finished behind Santry on debut at York, but who impressed at Musselburgh next time out. It's a wide-open race though and virtually nothing would surprise me. 

1255: Sorry for that short outage. Just reading some internal emails and gently sobbing. Back to the racing.

1220: One of the unexpected smash hits so far at Royal Ascot this year has been the BBC Radio Berkshire radio coverage on my drives too and from the track. Not only is Anne Diamond the host (yes, that Anne Diamond) but there's lots of mentions of the racing and a lot of is quite good (although I've never heard Sir Michael Stoute described as "a very lovely man" before). It's good. Not as good though as the phone-in last night of 'What's the oldest thing in your kitchen?'. Pure radio gold.

1210: A handful of owners, trainers and jockeys are out walking the home straight, trying to establish for themselves exactly where the best ground might be. According to the Going Stick readings, it's anywhere but the centre - that's what the data says anyway. My guess is that there will be a general trend towards moving across to the stands' side in the Norfolk, and that will remain the case for the rest of the day although Ascot's draw bias has a horrible way of turning itself inside-out and it wouldn't be the biggest surprise to see the apparent advantage to high numbers reverse itself by the end of the week.

1205: The man in the toilet (they have men in the toilet here but in a good way, rather than in a threatening way) tells me that Mucho Applause is "one they're talking about". I didn't ask for a tip, he offered it unsolicited. Maybe I looked like I was needing help.

1150: This is quite a neat video of the Gold Cup course (put together by British Champions Series) and well worth a watch.

1145: For what it's worth, one horse I would suggest having a shilling each-way on today is Coconut Creme in the Ribblesdale - against John's selection Mori. She wasn't beaten far by Mori at Goodwood last time in the race that used to be the Lupe and possibly wasn't suited by playing the role of the hare against her rival. I expect to see her held up today. Don't rule out a reversal of those placings.

1140: John Hope's daily lucky 15 is 2.30 Santry 3.05 Irishcorrespondent 3.40 Mori 5.00 Rusamaat. 

None of these horses figure in my calculations, John. Trust me, this is not bad news for you.

1130: JP in Paris writes to say: "I hope the heatwave is not getting to you and affecting your tipping, I must say that my winning streak does not seem to be much affected as I am still looking for my first winner, had some each-ways during the first couple of days, so I am banging on the door and not yet with my head.

"In a probable mix of heat exhaustion and some shift to defensive or attacking mode, I am today going for a mix of Linfoot, Fahey and a couple of potentially spicy 'pick my own' ones, a slightly left field cocktail that is no doubt appropriate for Ladies’ day. That said, I woke up during the night in what may be a bout of lucidity or absolute foolishness but it seemed to me that most of the last BC runners, whilst not returning millions, are giving a decent account of themselves so I am giving all those a second look for the remainder of the meeting and backed La Coronel for tomorrow’s Coronation stakes and Intelligence Cross for the Commonwealth Cup.

"For today on top of Mr Linfoot’s Frozen Angel, Gracious Diana (that should come in a lot on the name only today and could be altogether a fitting winner), Horroob and Mister Manduro (Man duro : Hard man in Spanish? Could come in a bit too…) and Mr Fahey’s It Don’t Come Easy and Senator, I have added Capezzano to be suitably equipped with three in the Britannia and Rodaini in the Hampton Court, a bit for a laugh as on paper and pedigree the horse is challenged to get the trip but who knows…best of luck to all."

1110: Sky Bet's early racing market movers today:

2.30 Consequences 14/1 into 12/1
3.05 Orderofthegarter 7/1 into 9/2
3.40 The Sky Is Blazing 33/1 into 28/1
5.00 Horroob 25/1 yesterday now 16/1
5.35- Master Singer 12/1 yesterday now 7/1, Mister Manduro 16/1 into 11/1  

The last-named horse there is one of Value Bet's selections today. I'm particularly interested in the horse being engaged both today and in the Queen's Vase tomorrow. Apparently it's a precautionary move because of the weather, but does it indicate that they'd rather race on softer ground if they think it's coming overnight? If so, is that a negative? Or a suggestion that they think he could be a Group-race horse running in a handicap off 90? Questions, questions.

1100: If you've gone to the lengths of identiying a selection in every race today, you might as well enter our free-to-play £100,000 Pick 7 competition. As I may have mentioned, it's free to play and the prize is £100,000. Not much more to say on this matter, is there?

1055: Should you feel the need to dispense some punting advice to me, you can do so by contacting me at the email address above. I'm a good listener.

1050: My colleague Matt Brocklebank has returned north and I'm at the controls of the blog ship for a couple of days now. My thanks for his work, shame about the tips. Hopefully together we can locate some decent-priced winners. I'm still pretty sure I backed Zhui Feng ante-post for the Hunt Cup with someone at some stage but an exhaustive traul through my betting accounts failed to find the bet last night. Maybe I was going to do it in the shop on the way to the office, or perhaps it was the time I logged into my account but found the race was suspended. Either way, there's no sign of the cash as yet. Disappointing.

1045: One of the tipping columns on Sportinglife.com that I particular heed to is Irish Eyes. The 3pts win on Highland Reel yielded a nice dividend yesterday, but I see it's a 4pt win bet on Order Of St George in today's column as he bids to win the Gold Cup again. I don't recall seeing a 4pt tip ever before. Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but it's certainly put me off backing anything else in the race!

1035: The first rule of running a racecourse is that you are never going to keep all of the people happy all of the time. After a record-setting scorchingly hot day yesterday, the ground had dried out so much that officials had to water the track last night even if there is a possibility of storms reaching the track today. Quite simply, it's impossible to predict whether conditions will be good to soft or good to  firm by the end of racing today. It all adds to the fun, I guess.

1030: Good morning friends and welcome to Royal Ascot for the third day of the meeting. Can we expect thunder and lightning both on and above the track today? Time will tell.