Wednesday, 19 June 2019: Day Two of Royal Ascot, and the press has settled into the race, churning out pages of features, analysis and news stories, topped up with striking photographs from the opening card.

The Duchess of Cambridge - Royal Ascot Day 1 2019

'Point proved' is the The Sun's racing pullout headline, which is placed alongside a dynamic shot of Blue Point beating old rival Battaash in yesterday's G1 King's Stand Stakes. The Racing Post captures the moment from another angle, as the two horses cross the line, and showing winning jockey James Doyle emitting a smile of delight as he glances back at his rival.

The same paper also carries a superb, head-on shot of the St James's Palace Stakes in its closing stages, showing all 11 runners wide across the course and battling for the line - looking not unlike a scene from the ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium Circus Maximus.

That was of course the name of the winner, and Marcus Armytage of The Daily Telegraph appraises the genius of trainer Aidan O'Brien in converting Circus Maximus from Derby also-ran to G1-winning miler, adding: "His post-race media debriefs are likely to assign more credit to the leaf blower at Ballydoyle than to himself." That modesty is picked up in the Racing Post by Lee Mottershead, who tries to unravel who was responsible for investing £45,000 in supplementing the winning colt for the race.

On the same theme Greg Wood of The Guardian calls it "a masterclass in deflection". According to Mottershead the trainer handed credit to the owners, they batted it back, but when confronting O'Brien the journalist detects "a smile and twinkle that revealed plenty". We don't like braggards, but it would be a hallelujah moment if ever O'Brien stood up loud and proud and declared, 'God, I'm good!'. Chris Goulding of the Daily Star describes Circus Maximus's victory as one of O'Brien's 'greatest training feats'.

Raindrops give added dimension to many of the photographs which are used to depict day one of the meeting. We are all subjects of The Queen at Royal Ascot, but when it comes to press pictures no subject is more popular than the willowy outline of the Duchess of Cambridge. She looks classically chic in a striking shot on page 3 of The Daily Telegraph, and in bubbly mood on page 11 of The Sun and 13 of the Daily Mail.

A beaming Duchess also adorns the front cover of the Daily Mirror in a photo which is placed above the headline 'Our next PM?'. Many would be delighted if the job was given to such a down-to-earth gal, but unfortunately the headline refers to the Tory leadership contenders who took part in a TV debate last night. The paper calls them 'Clueless'.

Yesterday's betting on the colour of The Queen's hat saw blue sent off favourite. The favourite romped it, and just about every female member of the Royal Family wore it. 'Simply beaming in blue, it's royal hugs all round' is a Daily Mail headline above a montage of Royal Family photos, while the Daily Express offers, 'Royal fashions reign supreme in Ascot rain'.

The Daily Telegraph's Alan Tyers invested in some serious, day-one research on a topic which is bewildering to all aficionados of racing - why people attend and never see a horse. From picnickers at point-to-points to champagne bar loafers at summer festivals, racing has always been able to attract a crowd who pay to go racing, but don't see a gee-gee. 

Tyers' tongue-in-cheek tour started with a train journey which he expected would be affected by strike action and therefore delay his racecourse arrival, yet he writes: "The caper soon met a Waterloo of its own when the journey to Ascot turned out more direct than a Sam Allardyce football team." From eats and drinks in Car Park One, he then toured various bars, sheltered under umbrellas, and finished his marathon of equine evasiveness with bandstand singing. "A horse-free day completed," he writes, "and a suspicion that I was not alone."

Day two, and a tantalising Princes of Wales's Stakes has whetted the appetite of the most-seasoned scribes. 'Moore's Magic touch' is the Daily Mail's headline pointing to the chances of the Ryan Moore-ridden Magical, who is also the selection of the Daily Express's The Scout. Newsboy of the Daily Mirror, Jon Freeman of i, and Rob Wright of The Times side with Sea Of Class, which if the heavens open, could describe both the going and the occasion.