 Jessica visits horse trainer Matt Cleveland on Wally Hampton s stud ranch in Virginia s Blue Mountains, where everybody is elated about the prospects for their promising racehorse Swift Prince. Matt is clobbered down and Jessica finds a mysterious syringe, but it s a stimulant injected in Prince, three days before a major race, so unlikely still to be detected even if it makes him win. Meanwhile Catherine Noble s neighboring ranch is financially troubled, so daughter Tracey Noble can t get a grand wedding, and their partner, Lloyd Mentone, schemes with the Hamptons assistant trainer -who is fired by Matt- while insisting Prince shouldn t race with a not perfectly healed injury as his leg could be permanently hurt. Matt tells Jessica a video cassette he just received could help take 3 seconds off Prince s time, and shortly after has a fatal car accident, or is it murder? Now rancher son Paul Hampton, a banker, pulls the plug at his deal with Loyd, and calls off the wedding with Tracy  which was only a match between stud ranches . Jessica now solves the horse mystery and Matt s murder.