Friday night’s 16-race Super Card at The Raceway at Western Fair District produced an all-time record handle as patrons pushed $765,685 through the mutuel windows.

That total eclipsed the previous high of $697,000, which was set on Dec. 23, 2014.

“A big thank you to the horseplayers who support our product all season and to our horsemen for supporting the entry box the way they did tonight with that number of races,” said Director of Racing Greg Blanchard. “Our track crew had the oval in fantastic shape and we couldn’t have asked for a better way to wrap things up here before the short Christmas break.”

The program was bolstered by a trio of $10,000 Guaranteed Pool Pick-4 wagers and an added Super Hi-5.

During Friday night's racing action, Sergeant Seelster streaked to his fifth straight victory for the local father and son team of trainer Jack and driver Scott Wray.

Sergeant Seelster rallied wide off the cover of slight favourite LMC Mass Oak (Scott Coulter) and defeated that foe by two and a quarter lengths in a lifetime-best clocking of 1:59.3 over the 'good' track. I Want Kandy (Nick Steward) followed six and a half lengths behind in third after leading through fractions of :29.4, 1:01 and 1:30.1.

Sergeant Seelster paid $5.30 to win as the 8-5 second favourite. The four-year-old Holiday Road-Self Desire gelding's victory in the $8,400 sixth race for conditioned trotters pushed his career earnings over $40,000. Unraced as a two-year-old, Sergeant Seelster won three of his four starts during his debut season last year and now has eight wins from 15 starts in his current campaign.

The Raceway's 16-race program also featured the second leg of the Alliance Series for $7,500 claiming trotters. The winners of the $4,600 divisions were Conway Escape ($10), driven by Nick Steward in his debut from the Jamie Wilson stable, and 13-year-old veteran trotter Weskey ($25.10) for trainer/driver Tyler Borth.

The Raceway will be dark for December 23 and 24, but will be back in action with the traditional Boxing Day program on Monday, Dec. 26, beginning at 1:15 p.m. There is limited seating available for the brunch that day and reservations can be made by calling 519-438-7203 (ext. 252).

To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Western Fair Raceway.

(With files from The Raceway)