A Day at the Races followed A Night at the Opera with Groucho as a veterinarian who tried to save a sanatorium and a racehorse.
A Day at the Races was released in 1937, directed by Sam Wood. Groucho played Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a veterinarian who was hired to run a sanatorium owned by Judy Standish, played by Maureen O’Sullivan. The sanatorium was in financial trouble, and its future depended on a racehorse named Hi-Hat, owned by the jockey played by Allan Jones.
Hackenbush, with the help of Chico and Harpo, tried to save both the sanatorium and the horse, while the villainous Whitmore, played by Douglass Dumbrille, tried to ruin them. The film included a famous scene in which Hackenbush examined a patient and gave a series of absurd diagnoses, and a race sequence in which the brothers used every trick to help Hi-Hat win.
A Day at the Races was a success, although it was not as highly regarded as A Night at the Opera. It remains a favourite with Marx Brothers fans, and it showed Groucho’s ability to play a professional man who was completely unqualified for his job, with total confidence.