CHAPTER IX 



CRESCEUS: REDUCTION OF STALLION RECORD AND 

 DOUBLE HARNESS RIVALRY 



CRESCEUS next appeared upon the scene. He 

 is a powerful chestnut, foaled 1894; bred by 

 George H. Ketcham, Toledo, Ohio ; by Robert 

 McGregor, 2.17^; dam Mabel (dam of Night- 

 ingale) by Mambrino Howard by Mambrino 

 Chief; second dam Contention by Allie West 

 (2.25 at four years old), son of Almont ; third dam 

 by Victor by Downing's Bay Messenger; and 

 fourth dam by Crusader, thoroughbred son of Sir 

 Archy. Robert McGregor was a chestnut horse, 

 foaled 1871, by Major Edsall, son of Alexander's 

 Abdallah; dam Nancy Whitman by Seely's 

 American Star ; and he was one of our greatest 

 trotters. So resolute were his finishes that he 

 was called the Monarch of the Home-stretch. 

 As a three-year-old Cresceus trotted to a record 

 of 2.1 1 J ; as a four-year-old to a record of 2.09 J ; 

 as a five-year-old to a record of 2.07^; as a six- 

 year-old to a record of 2.04, and as a seven-year- 



78 



