- After serving time in Sing Sing, for which he was unjustly sentenced, and encouraged by two "sharpers," Richard Goodloe returns to the home of his wealthy southern mother in dread fear that she and Virginia Sanders should learn of his prison record--a fear which is constantly nurtured by his rival, Con Arnold. Richard enlists the aid of his two friends to help Dixie, his mother's horse, win the Kentucky Derby. Realizing Dixie's inability to do so, they substitute Calamity Jane's Lightnin', which does win the race. Arnold exposes the substitution and Richard's past, but his triumph is interrupted by a detective, who arrests Arnold for past crimes.—Pamela Short
- Richard Goodloe, son of a wealthy Southern mother, has been railroaded into Sing Sing. When he is released, he dreads going home for fear of breaking his mother's heart. But then he hears the strains of "My Old Kentucky Home" coming from a street organ, and decides to go home. His mother is overjoyed to see him, as is his former sweetheart, Virginia Sanders, daughter of Colonel Sanders. "Con" Arnold is a rival for Virginia's affections. He warns Richard to keep away from the girl, or else he will expose his past.
With the Kentucky Derby approaching, Richard's mother enters her horse "Dixie" in the race, and puts her fortune behind it. Richard wires two reformed crooks, Steven McKenna and Loney Smith, who helped him get his release from prison; one is a horse trainer and the other a former jockey. The two men give Dixie a tryout and conclude the horse is not fast enough to win the Derby. They come up with a scheme. McKenna decides they will use a horse named "Lightnin," owned by his girl Calamity Jane, and pass it off for Dixie. The two men try out the horse and decide it has a chance.
Meanwhile, Richard continues to live in fear that his mother will discover he was in prison, and Arnold threatens to expose Richard every chance he gets. Then Arnold, who will be betting on a horse named "Corsair" in the Derby, learns that Dixie is about to be switched for Lightnin'. If Dixie wins, Arnold will expose the plot. At the last minute, Richard puts Dixie in the race, instead of Lightnin'. Dixie wins a thrilling race, and Arnold tells the authorities about the substitution, and also about Richard's criminal record. But Detective Monahan, who has been on the trail of Arnold for past crimes, arrests the villain on the charge that had imprisoned Richard. Richard is cleared.
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What was the official certification given to My Old Kentucky Home (1922) in the United States?
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