We're in for a treat as staying king faces the young pretender in epic Gold Cup

The day in a nutshell

Royal Ascot is the pinnacle of Flat racing in Britain, a spectacle of speed and class unmatched through the entire season, yet it is a curious fact that the centrepiece of such a stunning meeting is the near-unique endurance test of the Gold Cup.

Run over two miles four furlongs and well over 200 years old, the Gold Cup is a storied epic of a race that prizes stamina, courage and conviction above all other virtues. It is something of an anomaly at a meeting that otherwise celebrates sizzling speed, but perhaps that is why it is loved so dearly by Ascot aficionados.

One of the other reasons behind its hold on public affection is the frequency with which past winners return to defend their crowns. Last year's Gold Cup winner Big Orange will be sadly missed 12 months on, but in his absence the 2016 winner and last year's runner-up Order Of St George, representing the connections of four-time winner Yeats, looks set to take centre stage.

However, the John Gosden-trained Stradivarius, partnered by Frankie Dettori, is the coming force in the stayers' division, and promises to ensure the Gold Cup is no coronation.

While the Gold Cup is the Flat's most famous test of staying power, Thursday opens with a quite different spectacle in the shape of the 5f Norfolk Stakes in which Wesley Ward, the most devastating US raider on these shores since the Continental Navy's John Paul Jones, saddles likely favourite Shang Shang Shang, the only filly in the field of explosive and precocious two-year-olds.

Big Orange (white cap) and Order Of St George served up a thriller in last year's Gold CupCredit: Caroline Norris

The Gold Cup's rich history

Regarded by many as the centrepiece and most prestigious race of the royal meeting, the Gold Cup was first run in 1807, when it was worth the princely sum of 100 guineas, and marks the beginning of the festival we now know as Royal Ascot.

The race's royal connections stretch back to its inaugural running, which was witnessed by King George III and Queen Charlotte, while the 1844 edition was watched by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.

That year's winner was unnamed at the time of winning and was dubbed The Emperor in honour of the visiting monarch. This gesture inspired Nicholas to offer a new trophy for the race and it was renamed the Emperor's Plate for nine years, until the Crimean War precipitated a return to the original title.

The Emperor – the horse, that is, not Nicholas – won the race again in 1845 and over the centuries there have been many multiple winners, although none are today more celebrated or famous as Yeats, the four-time winner who dominated this race and won a legion of fans by triumphing from 2006 to 2009.

Even his last and most emotional win, which was greeted with the sort of jubilation more commonly associated with Cheltenham than the more reserved Ascot, was rivalled and perhaps topped by the scenes which greeted the 2013 victory of Estimate, owned by the Queen herself and the first winner owned by a reigning monarch in the race's history.

The Queen greets Estimate after the 2013 Gold CupCredit: Edward Whitaker / racingpost.com

The Gold Cup is traditionally one of three trophies presented by the Queen – rather than hand herself the Cup, however, her son Prince Andrew stepped in to make the presentation to the beaming monarch, whose palpable joy at winning the race was matched only by the crowd's roaring approval.

Man of the hour

No jockey is more synonymous with Royal Ascot than Frankie Dettori, who enjoyed a stunning treble on Tuesday, winning on all three of his rides.

Comfortably the most successful Royal Ascot jockey riding today, Dettori's haul this week has taken him past Willie Carson (56 wins) to stand third on the jockeys' all-time list, with just Pat Eddery (73 wins) and Lester Piggott (116) ahead of him.

Surprisingly, although Dettori has finished Royal Ascot leading jockey on five occasions, he has not achieved the feat since 2004.

Stradivarius is Dettori's best chance of the day in the Gold Cup, a race the rider has won five times, most recently on Colour Vision in 2012.

Never say never

All eyes in the opener will be on the latest Wesley Ward hotshot Shang Shang Shang, who is bidding to follow up Ward's 2013 Norfolk Stakes victory with No Nay Never.

Now standing at stud for Coolmore, No Nay Never's first two-year-old crop has hit the track this year and he has his maiden runner in the race he won five years ago in the shape of Land Force.

Representing Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore, Land Force was third last time out in a Curragh Listed race, finishing behind stablemates Fairyland and Van Beethoven, both of whom are entered to run later in the week.

No Nay Never: won the Norfolk in 2013 and will be represented by Land Force in Thursday's raceCredit: Mark Cranham

French connection

Frenchman David Menuisier, a former assistant to Criquette Head-Maarek and John Dunlop, will saddle his first Royal Ascot runner four years after beginning training in Pulborough, West Sussex.

Menuisier has sent out 32 winners in five seasons and has a genuine chance of celebrating his 33rd in the winner's enclosure at the royal meeting, as his runner in the Hampton Court Stakes, Vintager, boasts a wealth of smart form.

"It's fantastic to have a runner at Royal Ascot," said Menuisier. "It's the best meeting in the world, isn't it? I'm absolutely thrilled.

"His form is rock-solid all round. The form of his maiden, when he won first time out beating Symbolization, Old Persian and Chilean, worked out well, as did the Solario won by Masar in which he was fifth.

"Then first time out this year he was second in the Esher Cup behind Merlin Magic, who ran fourth in the Dante, before the Listed race at Sandown last month when he was beaten two lengths by Without Parole.

"The form is there to see so I'm hopeful for a big run. He always runs a big race and obviously I'd like to think he might improve for the step up in trip."

Menuisier won't have to wait long for his second Royal Ascot runner – Thundering Blue runs in Friday's Duke of Edinburgh with Frankie Dettori on board.

Stat of the day

Surprisingly, the King George V Handicap, first run in 1946, has never been won by a horse trained outside England.

Aidan O'Brien and his son Joseph try to turn that stat on its head, with O'Brien snr fielding Lucius Tiberius, with Ryan Moore in the saddle, and Joseph saddling Downdraft, ridden by his brother Donnacha.

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