CHAPTER 

 III 



THE CHAMPION'S COLTHOOD DAYS 



THERE was nothing particularly startling or 

 sensational about Cresceus as a yearling. In 

 fact it is very doubtful if any person con- 

 nected with Ketcham Farm at that time realized that 

 the colt would develop into a champion. After his 

 recovery from the attack of epizootic, that came so 

 near ending his career, Cresceus began to grow, and 

 he was soon one of the healthiest colts on the farm. 



Along with a number of other colts he was broken, 

 and began to receive his first lessons as a trotter. 

 Tim Murnen, who gave him his first schooling, says 

 that, like all colts, he was quite awkward, and it was 

 several weeks before he began to show signs of learn- 

 ing how to trot. The blood of his long line of trotting 

 ancestors, however, had given him as a legacy the 



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