A GREAT HORSE 



the worst tracks and under the most unfavorable 

 conditions. Saturday, November 9, was Cresceus day 

 at the fair-grounds track, and not one single person 

 who saw the performance was disappointed at the 

 showing made by the stallion. 



The track over which Cresceus performed was one 

 of the worst tracks over which he ever attempted to 

 make record time. It was smooth as glass, hard as 

 adamant and in places there were treacherous spots 

 left by the hoofs of the running horses, who had occu- 

 pied it shortly before the exhibition. There were deep 

 cuppy places all over the track, and in one of these 

 cups, only a quarter of a mile from the wire, Cresceus 

 floundered in his first attempt, and made a break, 

 something very unusual for the champion. The 

 champion made two attempts before he trotted the 

 mile in 2 107. In the first attempt Cresceus skimmed 

 the hard track like a swallow ; for five-eighths of a mile 

 he spurned the rolled earth as a bounding ball, then 

 he struck the mire at the three-quarter pole. The soft 

 cup in the track swallowed his hoofs as a bed of feath- 

 ers. For a moment he strove to regain his balance as 

 a juggler tilts a pole. He failed, a gasp of sorrow 

 welled from the grand stand as the breathless specta- 

 tors saw the great horse "go up in the air." Ketcham 

 pulled him up and soothed him with caressing words. 

 An hour later the champion again appeared to make 

 another attempt, and this time he succeeded grandly, 

 trotting one of the grandest miles any horse ever 



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