What happens
Salty O'Rourke, a jockey with a gambling debt to settle, is pressed by his partners Smitty and Dabra to ride a horse he has been offered. Smitty and Dabra want him to win a race that will pay off the debt. Salty is a teenager, and his guardian Miss Brooks, a schoolteacher, pushes him to return to school and give up racing. Salty's dealings with the racetrack, his partners and the schoolteacher drive the story forward. The Lux Radio Theatre dramatization was broadcast on November 26, 1945, and stars Alan Ladd in the title role, with William Demarest as Smitty and Marjorie Reynolds as Dabra.
Los Angeles and a racetrack in Southern California, 1940s
Characters: Salty O'Rourke, Smitty, Dabra, John Kate, Miss Brooks, Timothy
Listen for: Salty's dealings with the racetrack, his partners and the schoolteacher.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.