CRESCEUS, 2 : O 2 / 4 



him to carefully train and develop the colt, in the hope 

 that he might in time become a fast trotter. 



When spring opened the colt was kept going on the 

 straightaway sand track at the farm, and his speed was 

 so pronounced that it was decided to start him in a 

 couple of races as a two-year-old. He made two starts 

 in 1896: at Circleville, Ohio, where Clausby won, beat- 

 ing Cresceus, Viola, J. W. C., Ethel Burns and Baron 

 Belt ; time 2 137^, 2 136^ ; and also at Vienna, Michi- 

 gan, where Cresceus won, beating a field of fifteen 

 youngsters. These two races were both for two-year- 

 olds ; in each race Cresceus showed that he was evi- 

 dently a colt of pretty high class, and Mr. Ketcham 

 was fully convinced that when the youngster was fully 

 matured and developed he would prove a race horse. 

 He was returned to the farm, carefully wintered, and 

 given an opportunity to grow and mature. During the 

 winter he was worked steadily on the snow, and he won 

 many a brush on the Toledo snow path. He showed 

 such great bursts of speed on the snow that Toledo 

 horsemen began to talk of "Ketcham's sorrel colt" and 

 wondered how fast he could trot. During that winter 

 Cresceus succeeded in taking the measure of many of 

 the best horses in the city, and he soon got the reputa- 

 tion of being invincible on the snow. While Cresceus 

 could at that time trot fast, he did not show the won- 

 derful brush of speed that was one of his leading 

 traits later on. 



Early in June, 1897, Cresceus was started in a race 



21 



