When Joe Tomasso, an Italian American bookie, loses $60,000 on a horse race, he is no longer able to afford eating at expensive restaurants, and must now get his meals at cheap lunchrooms. One day, while eating at a lunchroom, Joe witnesses a young boy stealing a roll, after which the owner hauls him off to jail. After getting the boy, Jackie, released from jail, Joe learns that he is a homeless orphan and decides to adopt him. Soon Jackie tells Joe that he wants to be a jockey, and Joe consents to it on the condition that he ride straight. Two years pass, and Jackie, now an apprentice jockey, is located by his mother Myra Curtis, who left him when he was a boy, but now tries to get him back. When Jackie asks Joe's permission to ride Joe's prize horse, "Warrior," in an upcoming race, Joe refuses. Upset, Jackie throws a pebble at a horse, which causes it to rear and unseat its rider, Kent, who receives an injury from the fall. Myra witnesses her son's bad behavior and tells Joe that the track has corrupted the boy. Joe, realizing that the Jackie's place is with his mother, devises a plan to get him away from the tracks forever. After instructing Jackie to throw the next race, Joe tells the judges about the boy's action and he is disqualified from riding for good. Joe then lies to Jackie, telling him that the only reason he adopted him was to use him to ride crooked. Jackie leaves the track with Myra, but Joe, sad that he lost the boy, knows that Jackie will forever be an honest bookie.