THE first major sprint race of the year is the feature event as Haydock Park launches its Flat racing season on Saturday.

The five-furlong Field Marshal Stakes could see a head to head between the two horses that finished first and second in the main sprint for two-year-olds at Royal Ascot last year.

Leading northern jockey Kevin Darley is already booked to ride The Bonus King for Yorkshire trainer Mark Johnston, while Baron's Pit, the horse that won the Ascot race, could come north from Richard Hannon's Wiltshire base. The fine weather which will help to attract a big holiday crowd also means that the feature race will be run on good to firm ground for the first time in some years.

The first day of the Flat at Haydock is also marked with the first in a series of races during the spring and summer sponsored by telephone bookmakers bet365.

The company is also the new sponsor of the Lancashire Oaks which is run in July.

Off the track, children will be given free Easter eggs and there are entertainments for the youngsters in the Tattersalls enclosure.

*The first race Saturday is scheduled for 1.55pm. Admission is £7 to the Newton Enclosure, £14 to Tattersalls, £23 to the County Enclosure, and £35 to the Premier Enclosure on the top floor of the Centenary

Grandstand. Accompanied children under 16 enter free. Senior citizens and students, with appropriate identification, enter Tattersalls and the Newton Enclosure at half price.

More details at www.haydock-park.com.