CHAPTER 

 XIX 



JOHN KELLEY 



CRESCEUS OPENS THE CAMPAIGN OF IQOI 



DURING the winter of 1900, horsemen discussed 

 the question of the championship with a great 

 deal of interest, and as a matter of course, 

 Cresceus and The Abbot were the commanding figures 

 in this discussion. 



The friends of The Abbot were persistent in their 

 claims that their favorite would be able to lower his 

 record of 2 :<D3J, and it was the general opinion that 

 the son of Chimes was the greatest of trotters. No 

 man had the temerity to dispute the supremacy of 

 Cresceus as a race-horse, but few there were who dared 

 to predict that the son of Robert McGregor would 

 snatch the crown from the head of the champion. 

 The admirers of Cresceus were modest in their claims 

 on behalf of their champion, but a staunch band of 



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