 Gabe Fenway, a sharecropper for local landlord Preston, plans to run his quarterhorse Sapphire in a local horse race. Mark also plans to race his horse, Blueboy, in the race. Preston, who wants to keep all of Fenway s crops, believes Mark s horse can beat Fenway s and tricks Fenway into betting his crop against Preston s $1000 that Mark will win. And to make sure that Mark wins, Preston has a plan to make sure that Fenway doesn t make it to the race.