The life story of a famous race horse, told primarily by a narrator in a semi-documentary fashion, with more than a little bit of revisionism. It begins with the colt's wobbly-legged days, into the training, pacing, clocking that leads to a trial run. The horse bolts at the starting-gate and sends its jockey into a spill that injures him. He is sold from one stable to another until he is brought back to his original owner, Tom Trent, whose daughter, Jean, has never lost faith in the horse. More rigorous training, failures and setbacks follow until, on his third birthday, the horse gets another chance at the famous Santa Anita racetrack.