Golden Gate Fields TV show is no more
There will be a noticeable void as Golden Gate Fields opens its winterspring season Tuesday: no race replay television show for the first time since 1978.
Sam Spear started the telecast on Labor Day 39 years ago, hosted it as many as seven days a week and sold the advertising. Health issues have forced him to cut down on his schedule, but he will continue as the track’s director of media relations and as host of his Sunday morning radio show, “At the Track,” on KNBR.
“When I first started, people were really excited to see the races on TV, and I was a total novice,” Spear, 69, said. “There has been tremendous support by the public and the horsemen being able to see the races. We lasted longer than you would have expected with the way we have racing now.”
Spear was hosting a sports-talk radio show that included re-creations of Bay Area races when he came up with the idea of a televised replay show. He found a new independent station, KTSF-TV.
“When we started we had to drive to the studio on San Bruno Mountain, because that’s where the tower was,” Spear said. “The station didn’t have a studio and the tracks didn’t have studios. We’d grab the tape and drive there. Nowadays you couldn’t make it to the toll plaza. During the fairs I was doing six days a week with one day for interviews.”
Management changes at KTSF prompted Spear to move to KCSM for a few years, but he returned to his original channel and in 1989 moved the production to studios at both Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows.
“I decided from the beginning to never reveal who had won the race ahead of time,” Spear said. “The show was never about me. The viewers were the owners, trainers, jockeys and bettors. So I played it straight, knowing that they were heavily invested. For 20 years we were exclusive.”
But times changed in both the racing and communication industries.
“They introduced TVG and HRTV (horse racing cable outlets), there are 500 channels and racing went from six to five to four days a week,” Spear said. “You can watch a race on your phone now. It’s the situation where initially nobody wanted to miss the show, but there are many ways to watch the races today. It’s gotten more difficult to raise the money to keep the show going, and I don’t have the energy to go out and find sponsors.”
Golden Gate Fields racing secretary Patrick Mackey and new announcer Matt Dinerman hosted the replay show over the past several months.
“Energy-wise, I couldn’t keep up the pace I was keeping,” Spear said. “I’m keeping the radio show. It’s one day a week, we have handicappers and guests, and I really enjoy it.”
“I decided from the beginning to never reveal who had won the race ahead of time. The show was never about me.” — Sam Spear, Bay Area television and radio horse racing show host