The winter/spring Cal Expo harness meet began on Friday night with an excellent opening night handle of $928,858 on the 15-race card.

"Our field size average was decent and Los Alamitos canceling their card midway through their program were obviously two factors that encouraged our players to take a shot on our races," said Director of Racing David Elliott.

The all sources handle figure could top $1 million when all wagers are reconciled, he said. "It's nice to step up to the plate and hit a double every once in awhile and we hope our fans will stay interested in our product".

Cal Expo offers two Pick 4s on each program with a reduced 15 percent takeout rate, and the Late Pick 4 every evening comes with a $10,000-guaranteed gross pool.

(Cal Expo)