A GREAT HORSE 



burgh to open his 1900 campaign was one mile in 

 2:i6J. He took to his work splendidly, and early 

 showed that he was a much-improved horse, and had 

 increased spee4 and endurance. There had always 

 been considerable speculation among horsemen as to 

 the quality of Cresceus and Tommy Britton as race 

 horses, and a spirit of friendly rivalry sprang up be- 

 tween the two great trotters. Tommy Britton was 

 thought to be directly in line for championship hon- 

 ors ; he had shown so much extreme speed ever since 

 his first appearance on the turf that the handsome 

 son of Liberty Bell was thought by his many admirers 

 to be a faster and better horse than Cresceus. The 

 followers of the son of Robert McGregor were equally 

 positive that he could beat Tommy Britton. In order 

 to settle the controversy a match race was arranged 

 between them to be trotted over the new mile track 

 on Brunot's Island, Pittsburgh, on July 4. It was 

 early in the season, and many horsemen thought it 

 to be "a very unwise move to ask these two great 

 horses to trot a race at that early date. It was not 

 thought that either of them was in proper condition 

 to go any fast miles, but the wonderful ability of Cres- 

 ceus as a race horse was hardly realized at that time, 

 and the splendid manner in which he won this match 

 proved that he was one of the greatest horses of his 

 day. Cresceus won the race in the most decisive man- 

 ner, trotting two consecutive heats in 2:10 which was 

 the fastest race ever gone by a stallion at that time of 



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