KEMPTON has the honour of staging 2005's first turf Flat fixture, which means a total break from tradition by way of today's Rosebery Stakes replacing the Lincoln at Doncaster as the inaugural big-money handicap of the season.

With £50,000 on offer, the ten-furlong contest has not surprisingly attracted some smart older horses, including North Yorkshire raider, Danelor (3.25), who represents a decent each-way betting opportunity.

Much like a vintage wine, Richard Fahey's seven-year-old is getting better with age - a point emphatically underlined by his dashing pillar-to-post victory over 11 furlongs at Wolverhampton in February.

Danelor now has to drop back a furlong in distance. However, with bottom weight plus an advantageous high draw, jockey Paul Hanagan is in pole position to employ similar front-running tactics, hopefully to winning effect.

It's always difficult to judge exactly how far forward individual stables are at this time of year, but at least we know that Mark Johnston's Queen's Prize runner, Winged d'Argent (5.35), goes particularly well when fresh.

He completely fooled paddock observers at Pontefract in the spring of 2004, defying an extremely portly appearance to score on his belated three-year-old debut.

After that initial win Winged d'Argent continued to mop up race after race, suggesting he might even make up into a listed class performer during the coming few months.

Leighton Aspell is not the best-known National Hunt jockey on the jumps circuit, yet he has a very loyal fan club and dedicated website to show for it.

Given decent tackle such as Haydock-bound Executive Decision (3.05), a leading contender for the Danielle Ingham Handicap Chase, Aspell is more than capable of getting the job done.

Executive Decision produced a lifetime best performance when gamely fending off Super Nomad on his latest start at Sandown, form which stands head-and-shoulders above any of his rivals' recent efforts.

The perils of backing a 1/8 odds-on shot in a two-horse race were devastatingly exposed when Jazz d'Estruval hit the deck and handed the money on a plate to his sole opponent, Ravenscar, at Market Rasen this month.

Trainer Nicky Richards will have his fingers crossed that no such mishaps occur in the opener at Carlisle, where according to the official ratings his horse has a simple task in the Colin Parker Memorial Novices Chase.

Jazz d'Estruval (2.35) had previously been talked of as a potential Cheltenham Festival contender, such had been the facile nature of the normally safe-jumping grey's previous two successes over fences.

Richards is sure to have re-schooled the gelding, and provided Jazz d'Estruval stays on his feet, the eight-year-old realistically won't have any problems lifting the £10,500 event.

The £25,000 three-mile totesport Handicap Chase is by far and away the best contest on the card, featuring the likes of hat-trick seeking Supreme Breeze and up-and-coming stayer, D J Flippance (3.40).

Andrew Parker's lightly weighted ten-year-old astonishingly overcame a jaw-dropping 118-week absence to land some hefty bets when scoring on his comeback at Doncaster three weeks ago.

Even though that victory was achieved over timber, D J Flippance showed himself to be a very competent chaser in 2003, which can only bode well for his switch to the bigger obstacles at the Cumbrian venue.

Get more racing online at www.racing-north.co.uk.