Tired of losing their earnings every week to the bookies, New York taxi drivers Firpo and Brophy decide to take matters into their own hands by buying their own horse. To purchase and train the beast, the duo nominate fellow taxi driver Ernest Ambrose because of his experience raising pigeons. When they fail to convince Ernest to go to Kentucky for them, Firpo and Brophy hire a man to dress like a gorilla and frighten Ernest into having an accident, which they know will result in his termination at the cab company. Once fired, Ernest leaves his beloved pigeons in the care of his sweetheart Ina and journeys to Kentucky to attend the horse auction. Knowing nothing of horses, Ernest is tricked by a phony "Kentucky Colonel" into purchasing a worthless nag named "Hiccup," out of Bourbon by Distillery. Ernest then returns to New York, where he and his horse bed down at the Jamaica racetrack. After "Hiccup" establishes a miserable record by finishing his first race just as the next race is about to start, the odds begin steadily to rise against the steed. As the cabbies become impatient to recoup their investment, the colonel arrives and sees that the horse is entered at sixty-to-one odds. Ina threatens to call off their wedding if Ernest fails to win the next race and retire from horseracing, and overhears the colonel talking about "Hiccup's" fondness for alcohol and his plans to intoxicate the horse. Before the race begins, the colonel sends a keg of beer to the stable and then bets heavily on the horse. When Ina arrives and finds the horse drunk, she decides against betting the two thousand dollars that the cabbies had pooled. However, on her way from the stables, she meets the colonel, who informs her of the horse's peculiarities. Ina then bets the entire pot, and when "Hiccup" wins by eight lengths, the day finally arrives when the bookies weep.