Remember "Let's Go To The Races?"

[CrankyYankee]

A co-worker mentioned this program to me the other day and for the life of me I could not remember the sponsor. It was a supermarket, that much I recall. You'd get a race card every time you shopped there and then the program would play usually on Saturday, and you'd find out if you had won anything.
Each market had it's own local store(s) as sponsor. In Boston, was it First National stores?

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

"Let's Go To The Races" was shown in Cincinnati in the mid-to-late 1960's in the early evening before network programming began. Apparently, in each city it was shown in, there were local cut-outs for the sponsor. Here, the show was on WKRC, Channel 12. Paul Jones would apprear on camera complete with binoculars around his neck. I don't remember who the sponsor was although it may have been a local supermarket chain (Kroger, Thriftway, etc.) where you would pick up the cards to participate in the filmed races that were shown.

 

[Rob Jason]

I think then-WSYR channel 3/NBC in Syracuse ran this show, in about 1967-68. I remember it was on Tuesdays at 7PM, the new local prime access half-hour...The other nights, at that time I think ch. 3 was running "The Honeymooners"...

 

[azumanga]

In the Tampa Bay area in the early-1980s, WTOG ran this show Saturday nights, with the sponsor being Grand Union (the now-defunct supermarket that pulled out of Florida in the mid-1980s). The horse races were taped at Gulfstream Park near Miami; between races, a host appeared in the studio to explain the rules and announce the winning horse for each race.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

In the Fort Wayne area in the original version (66-67,maybe?), it was Kroger. The guy calling the race was Jack Drees, who was (I think) the radio PBP guy for the White Sox at one point. (I don't even remember which station aired it.) They did try to bring it back in the early 80's, IIRC.

 

[KeithE4]

In the Fort Wayne area in the original version (66-67,maybe?), it was Kroger. The guy calling the race was Jack Drees, who was (I think) the radio PBP guy for the White Sox at one point. (I don't even remember which station aired it.) They did try to bring it back in the early 80's, IIRC.

Drees was the TV PxP man for the Sox on WFLD Ch. 32 from 1968 (when the team left WGN-TV) thru 1972. He was replaced by Harry Caray (who had been doing Sox radio since 1971) when they moved to WSNS Ch. 44 the next year.

Drees never did radio for the Sox from what I remember. Bob Elson had been their broadcaster since the '30s, until he was replaced by (actually, traded to the Oakland A's for) Caray.

 

[bpatrick]

I remember the races being filmed at Sunshine Park
in Oldsmar, FL (near Tampa), with Jack Drees calling
the races. In the Carolinas Winn-Dixie sponsored the
show; in Virginia and Maryland, Colonial Stores; in
Atlanta, I think it was Big Star. The one local host
I remember best was Jeff Dane, who did sports on
WTAR (WTKR) Norfolk.

I remember several other shows like "Let's Go To
The Races": "Greyhound Derby" was sponsored by
Colonial in the Carolinas and (later) Virginia; the
Allen Ludden-hosted musical game "Win With The
Stars" by Winn-Dixie in the Carolinas (Charlotte
personality Johnny Evans did the local cut-ins);
and "All Star Bingo" (another sponsored by Colonial)
with the other Michael Jackson (the KABC radio talk-show
host) as host of the national portion. All these shows
usually aired around 6 or 7 PM on Saturdays, even though
I remember that when WRAL and WGHP were ABC affiliates,
they ran "Win With The Stars" instead of "The Dating Game"
at 7:30.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Jack Drees also did several Kentucky Derbys in 1967-68-etc. and also several NFL Championship games on CBS Radio during that same time as well as some sports shows on that network. He also did the St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL on TV in the 1960's and did the blow-by-blow description on the radio for the first Patterson-Liston fight in Sept., 1962.

 

[mleach]

I remember the races being filmed at Sunshine Park
in Oldsmar, FL (near Tampa), with Jack Drees calling
the races. In the Carolinas Winn-Dixie sponsored the
show; in Virginia and Maryland, Colonial Stores; in
Atlanta, I think it was Big Star. The one local host
I remember best was Jeff Dane, who did sports on
WTAR (WTKR) Norfolk.

Colonial stores for Virginia & Maryland? For some reason I remember Let's Go to the Races being sponsored by Grand Unionand later Acme ( when the show aired on DC's WTTG )even though Grand Union pulled out of both states not long after Let's go to the Races. Acme pulled out of Virginia in 1991 mainly because they could not compete with Food Lion but some Acmes stayed around in Maryland. Wonder if Grand Union was a Colonial Store?

 

[bpatrick]

All I remember is that Colonial sponsored "Let's
Go To The Races" in Norfolk, Richmond, and
Salisbury, MD; it was indicated on the game card
you got at the store.

 

[radioman148]

In the Fort Wayne area in the original version (66-67,maybe?), it was Kroger. The guy calling the race was Jack Drees, who was (I think) the radio PBP guy for the White Sox at one point. (I don't even remember which station aired it.) They did try to bring it back in the early 80's, IIRC.

Drees was the TV PxP man for the Sox on WFLD Ch. 32 from 1968 (when the team left WGN-TV) thru 1972. He was replaced by Harry Caray (who had been doing Sox radio since 1971) when they moved to WSNS Ch. 44 the next year.

Drees never did radio for the Sox from what I remember. Bob Elson had been their broadcaster since the '30s, until he was replaced by (actually, traded to the Oakland A's for) Caray.

Jack Drees was quite good at calling races, but calling baseball not nearly as good.

 

[NeilRattigan]

In the mid 70's, WCHS-TV Charleston, WV had it. So did a station in the Wheeling-Steubenville market, sponsored by Foodland. My college roommates and I would gather around the tube. This is probably where I developed my enthusiasm for horse racing!

 

[Smittian]

Around 1979-80 or so, many South Texas (San Antonio, Corpus, RGV, Austin) markets ran the program at 6:30 on Saturday nights. It was sponsored by H-E-B Supermarkets. I even won once or twice!

 

[radioman148]

I think on of the UHF stations in Chicago carried it. WFLD maybe.

 

[bpatrick]

Re the sponsorship of "Let's Go To The Races" in DC:
Colonial owned Grand Union; likewise, Colonial owned
Big Star in Atlanta. Makes me wonder why Winn-Dixie
sponsored "Races" in the Carolinas, while Colonial sponsored
"Greyhound Derby."

BTW, Jack Drees ended his career as sportscaster on
WKRG Mobile, AL.

 

[Ultimajock]

I think on of the UHF stations in Chicago carried it. WFLD maybe.

...I seem to recall it was WSNS/44. There was even a version using films from Arlington Park and Hawthorne and the call of Phil Georgeff...

 

[radioman148]

>>BTW, Jack Drees ended his career as sportscaster on
WKRG Mobile, AL.>>

Do you remember about what year that was?

 

[radioman148]

I think on of the UHF stations in Chicago carried it. WFLD maybe.

...I seem to recall it was WSNS/44. There was even a version using films from Arlington Park and Hawthorne and the call of Phil Georgeff...

Ahh good ole Phil Georgeff "here they come spinning out of the turn"....

 

[bpatrick]

>>BTW, Jack Drees ended his career as sportscaster on
WKRG Mobile, AL.>>

Do you remember about what year that was?

Mid-'70s. starting around 1972.

 

[fortmill]

Re the sponsorship of "Let's Go To The Races" in DC:
Colonial owned Grand Union; likewise, Colonial owned
Big Star in Atlanta. Makes me wonder why Winn-Dixie
sponsored "Races" in the Carolinas, while Colonial sponsored
"Greyhound Derby."

BTW, Jack Drees ended his career as sportscaster on
WKRG Mobile, AL.

bpatrick, are you sure Winn Dixie sponsored LGTTR in the Carolinas? I could have sworn Big Star/Colonial sponsored the show in the Carolinas, just as they did in other states.