The Monarch of the Mile

Maybe the best trotter ever bred in the Hoosier state, Cresceus went from being the best ever seen on the snow in Toledo to the best the world have ever seen. A rather plain trotter with bulldog determinaton, he didn’t take kindly to being mistreated.

Born and bred by George Ketcham on his Ketcham farm, later renamed MacGregor Lane farm, near Toledo, OH, Cresceus saw the light of day in the spring of 1894. A relatively plain youngster, though expected to be a nice race horse nobody thought the colt would turn into the best in the world in a few years. The story of Cresceus, as the colt was named later, could have been over very early. As a yearling he came down with strangles and, according to the book The Story of a Great Horse, “was blistered on the throat; in an effort to relieve his suffering, in some manner he rubbed off the blister over the half door of his stall, and sawed his neck so that his wind pipe was exposed. When discovered he presented a horrible appearance, and Mr Ketcham ordered him killed, but as luck or rather fate would have it, the trainer was too busy or careless and it was put off until morning, when he was found to be so much better that it was decided to give him another chance for life.”

Broken to harness by Tim Murnen, the superintendent of Ketcham Farm, Cresceus didn’t display an extreme early talent, but did show both a very good heat but also the courage and determination which served him so well throughout his career. He was taken slowly and learnt to listen to the voices of Murnen and Ketcham – and never did anybody use a whip on him. In the winter he turned 2, Cresceus was driven quite a bit on the snow and succeeded in beating a few of the best Toledo trotters. “In these brushes on the snow path, Mr Ketcham learned that the youngster possessed extreme speed and supreme courage.” Trained regularly through the winter and spring, Cresceus made two starts at 2, both in October, finishing second at Circleville, OH and then winning a race of half-mile heats at Vienna, MI. George Ketcham was now fully convinced he had a good future race horse and let the horse grow and mature. In the winter he turned three Cresceus continued to impress on the Toledo snow path and soon “got the reputation of being invincible on the snow.”

A good debut season

He won his 1897 seasonal debut, a race for three-year-olds over the half-mile track at Toledo in early June. Entering the colt against older horse in the 2:45 trot at Tiffin on Jul 7, Cresceus finished third after placing 4-3-2 in the three heats. Just two days later he was second in the 3:00 trot. Not wasting any time, on Jul 13 he finished close to Minnie McGregor in each of the three heats in the 3:00 class at Springfield, OH. Believe it or not, but the same day Cresceus was then sent out in the 2:29 trot, winning the three heats in 2:29 1/4, 2:26 1/4 and 2:25 1/4 (1.32,8, 1.30,9 and 1.30,3). Just two days later he started in the 2:33 trot and finished a close second to Minnie McGregor in three straight heat. These races was a great education for the three-year-old, who hadn’t shown too much of his abilities yet. Going to Circleville, OH, on Jul 21 he won the 2:45 class for three-year-olds easily in 2:21 1/4, 2:22 1/4 and 2:21 3/4 (1.27,8, 1.28,4 and 1.28,1), and Ketcham then set his sights on the Grand Circuit for the son of Robert McGregor.

Against 15 other trotters, Cresceus started in the 2:20 class at Columbus on Aug 5. He pushed the eventual winner Pat Watson hard and lost the first two heats by a nose in 2:13 1/4 and 2:12 1/4 (1.22,8 and 1.22,2), while finishing third in the third heat. Despite not winning, “Cresceus was the real hero the race at the close of the second heat and the regulars were wondering at the extreme speed shown by the great three-year-old.”

Going to Fort Wayne five days later, Cresceus won one of the most legendary race of the 1897 season: “Eagle Flannagan won the first heat in a particularly creditable manner, literally snatching it away from Curta and Espy Boy in 2:15 1/4 (1.24,1) in a very close finish. The Monk finishing just behind the flag and Cresceus back in seventh position. Shadeland Norward won the second heat in 2:13 1/4 (1.22,8), with Cresceus so close up in second position that he looked like the winner as they passed under the wire. Eagle Flannagan was away back in the rut in tenth position, and The Monk again last. The race began to look like a peculiar proposition, and there was a hurrying to and from of the followers of the Village Farm gelding. Scott Hudson was very industrious with Eagle Flannagan in the third and won the heat in 2:12 1/4 (1.22,2). Cresceus was again safe in second position at the finish, but The Monk appeared to have more speed in this heat, and his backers began to feel easier when Geers finished up in the front tier in fifth position.

Geers was out for business in the fourth heat; he sent The Monk to the front, and won the heat in a hard drive through the stretch with Cresceus, Shadeland Norward and Eagle Flannagan, but Cresceus was right there at the finish and was very cleverly landed in second position. The Monk won the fifth heat in much the same manner, but Eagle Flannagan finished second, and Cresceus trailed the field home in tenth position. Darkness then came on, and the race was postponed until the next day. The Monk’s winning in the fourth and fifth heats renewed the hopes of his followers, and when darkness fell over the track the betting was two to one on The Monk. The regular turf followers were guessing the next day, and while they felt almost certain that The Monk would finish up the race by winning the next heat, some of them went about with a doubtful air, and the speculators were a trifle wary in making investments.

But The Monk found a new champion in the field when they scored down for the sixth heat, and Cresceus succeeded in convincing the audience that he was one of the really great trotters. The next three heats proved to be the most sensational performance ever seen on the turf. Cresceus was full of trot. Mr Ketcham had only to allow him to have his head and, like a conquering hero, he swept all before him. Cresceus took the lead, going away in the sixth, with Eagle Flannagan close up all the way to the homestretch, where Flannagan made a break and Cresceus stepped home in 2:12 1/4 (1.22,2). Geers raced the flying son of Robert McGregor all the way with The Monk in the seventh heat, but a steam engine would not have headed Cresceus that day, and he came steady and strong through the stretch and won the head in 2:11 1/4 (1.21,6). It was a wonderful mile, and the four thousand spectators cheered the grand three-year-old to the echo as he came jogging back by the stand. It was nothing but Cresceus throughout the mile in the eight and closing heat. He won quite easily in 2:11 1/4 (1.21,6), and was crowned the winner of the hardest fought eight-heat trotting race ever seen on the turf. At the close of the great race Cresceus and his driver were given a most magnificent ovation, and the delighted spectators cheered lustily when it dawned up on them that they had just witnessed a record-breaking performance, such as had never before been seen on any race track in the world. The average time for the race was 2:12 1/4 (1.22,2). It was a great race, grandly won by a grand colt, old circuit followers gazed at him in wonder and pronounced him the greatest three-year-old trotter that had yet appeared.”

So how could the horse go winless in five only to win three straight heats against the same field the following day? As it turned out, Cresceus was held back on the first day. According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, written the day after the race was won, “to many it was a great surprise that the stallion did not win the race Tuesday, after they had seen his speed yesterday. This fact is easily explained. Cresceus, if he had won a heat Tuesday, would have had to make time that would have shut him out of several big purses in the east. His mark would have been made too low to enter the events. The last of the races in which Ketcham wished to enter the stallion in the east closed the night before, hence the mark of 2:11 1/4 (1.21,6) made yesterday will not bar him from the slower-gaited events.”

Cresceus then won the 2:22 trot at Syracuse followed by the 2:20 class at Readville. At Fleetwood Park, New York he beat The American Belle, Kentucky Futurity-winner Thorn and three other trotters in a three-year-old race. The tough season was catching up with Cresceus at Portland, ME on Sep 21, though, when The American Belle, herself a really good trotter, got the better of the sorrel colt. Cresceus won the first heat in 2:12 but then The American Belle swept the next three as the colt struggled as he had thrown a curb. The colt was then retired for the season with six wins in twelve starts and two world records, for the seventh and eighth heats by a three-year-old with 2:11 1/4 as well as the 3-year-old stallion record. The speed, gameness and determination he had displayed made him viewed as the best three-year-old even though Thorn had won the biggest race, the Kentucky Futurity.

A strong maternal family

It shouldn’t have been a huge surprise as Cresceus’ older sister Nightingale 2:10 1/2 (1.20,8) was a top mare who won in 1892 had won both the $10,000 Charter Oaks Stakes and the $10,000 M&M Stake. Ketcham was present when the older sister won in 2:27 at Goshen, ID on Sep 25, 1891. Not long thereafter their dam Mabel was put up at auction in Toledo as her owner James Dority had died. A slightly bizarre misunderstanding allowed Ketcham to buy the mare on the cheap: “the competing bidder was Dr JV Newton of Toledo who, with his partner Mr Rundall of Genoa, Ohio, was bidding jointly for the mare. Through some confusion on their part, one thinking the other was doing the bidding and neither seeing Mr Ketcham nod to the auctioneer, the mare was knocked down to him for $250, each believing the bid was for their account. She was bred to Baronstein 2:21 (1.27,6), the initial “King of Ketcham farm” in 1892, but the following year Ketcham used his new stallion Robert McGregor on the broodmare. By that time Nightingale had established herself as one of the better racing mares in the US with the highlight being the 1892 season where she won 9 of 11 races.

During the winter of 1898/99, Cresceus’ ailing leg was treated with thermocautery. He then stood stud in the spring, but when he returned to the track he wasn’t the trotter he had been the season prior. That said, he won his seasonal debut in the 2:12 class at Highland Park, Detroit on Jul 13, losing the first, but then winning the next three heats. He then lost at both Cleveland and Columbus, though lowered his record to 2:09 3/4 (1.20,6) when he won a heat at the former. It was more of the same as Cresceus lost to The Abbot, a trotter who would later become his arch-nemesis, at the Fort Erie-track in Buffalo. Realizing the horse simply wasn’t close to his best, Cresceus was given a month off and then started in the $3,500 Puritan Stake at Readville on Sep 20, 1898. There he met Bingen, who came into the race fresh from defeating The Abbot, not to mention with a 2:06 3/4 (1.18,8) record. The latter won the first and third heats but lost the race to Cresceus who took home the second, fourth and fifth heat.

Cresceus was trained through the winter and spring of 1899 and grew and developed further. He was by then firmly established as the king of the Ketcham farm, established back in 1889 by George Ketcham in what is now the Sylvania suburb of Toledo. Making his first start in 1899 on Jul 28 at Cleveland, Cresceus finished third after winning the third of a six heat battle. Tommy Britton took the first two, in 2:10 and 2:12 1/4 (1.20,8 and 1.22,2), Cresceus then third in 2:10 (1.20,8) and Elloree, the excellent daughter of Axtell, swept the last three in 2:08 1/2, 2:10 1/2 and 2:12 (1.19,9, 1.21,1 and 1.22,0). The son of Robert McGregor placed 3-3-1-5-2-2, but according to the Cleveland Leader, “Cresceus was the disappointment in the 2:10 trot, for, after winning one heat, he was hardly heart of except in two sensational drives in the last heat.” More or less the same group of trotters met in the 2:10 class at Columbus one week later, Tommy Britton then winning all three heats, the first two ahead of Cresceus, in 2:08 1/4, 2:08 3/4 and 2:08 1/4 (1.19,7, 1.20,0 and 1.19,7), a three-heat stallion world record at the time. The previous winners of the 2:10 class were sitting out when Cresceus next started in the 2:10 class yet again, this time in Glens Falls, NY on Aug 15. Leading from start to finish, Cresceus easily held off Louise Mac to win the first heat in 2:09 1/4 (1.20,3). It was more of the same in the second as Cresceus had no problems brushing off Dare Devil’s attempts in down the final stretch, this time winning in 2:07 1/4 (1.19,1). After the colt jogged home the third heat in 2:09 (1.20,2), the race was over. Despite not appearing in top condition he was then started in the 2:10 at Charter Oak Park at Hartford, but after he won the second heat in 2:09 (1.20,2) he was exhausted and not a factor in the last three. The he wasn’t withdrawn was a characteristic of Ketcham’s management of the star trotter and it was later said that “it has been said of Cresceus that he was as badly managed as was possible, was raced when in and out of condition, was asked to perform impossible feats, and yet never did he falter, never did he fail to do his utmost. It is believed that he was the gamest and greatest stallion the world has ever seen.”

Recovering well, Cresceus was fit for fight again for the $5,000 Manhattan stake at the brand new Empire City Track in New York on Sep 4. Cresceus won easily in two heats, time 2:10 1/4 an 2:07 1/4 (1.21,0 and 1.19,1). After the easiest of wins at Indianapolis it was time for the Lexington meeting. The field in the $2,000 free-for-all comprised only three trotters, but they were spectacular: Bingen, Cresceus and The Abbot. He had beaten the other two earlier in the season, but this time it was close but no cigar for the Hoosier colt who finished 2-2-3-2-2 in the five heats to finish last, Bingen winning the first two and The Abbot the last three heats.

Established in the elite

The following season Cresceus started off by defeating Tommy Britton in a match race in Pittsburg on Jul 4, then won the 2:08 trot at Cleveland, winning the second heat of the latter in 2:06 3/4 (1.18,8) before taking home a $5,000 free-for-all at Columbus in three straight heats, 2:07 1/2, 2:06, 2:06 (1.19,2, 1.18,3 and 1.18,3), a new three-heat record. A rematch with Tommy Britton at Washington Park track in Chicago on Aug 11, 1900 ended in another easy win for Cresceus. He then went against time at Charter Oaks Park on Sep 5 to try to finally beat Directum’s 1893 stallion record of 2:05 1/4 (1.17,8) and slashed half a second off the record to come home in 2:04 3/4 (1.17,5). His rival The Abbot grabbed the limelight back just 20 days later, however, when he lowered Alix’ world record with a 2:03 1/4 (1.16,6) clocking at the kite track in Terra Haute. As The Abbot was a gelding, though, Cresceus’ fresh stallion record was safe.

Two days later, on Sept 25, Cresceus underlined his own credentials when he won the $20,000 Stallion championship at Readville. Charley Herr took the first two heats before the Ohio colt swept the next three and the race, the winning times 2:07 1/4, 2:07 1/4, 2:07 1/4, 2:07 1/2, 2:08 3/4 (1.19,1, 1.19,1, 1.19,1, 1.19,2 and 1.20,0). Ketcham was of course happy, but he wanted to show that his colt was faster than The Abbot. He didn’t send Cresceus back to Toledo for the winter, but rather straight to Cleveland where they kept training him. On Oct 5 he trotted a trial quarter in 28 3/4 quarters, the fastest quarter trotted by any horse until that time. The following day Cresceus broke his stallion record when he finished the mile in 2:04 (1.17,1) flat in front of a huge crowd.

Cresceus Day

Now, it was finally time to go home to Toledo. His home-coming turned out to be spectacular. Oct 12 was deemed “Cresceus Day” in Toledo and marked with a 10,000-person parade, music and feasting. Ketcham gave a speech which included “This demonstration on behalf of Cresceus is made more satisfactory to me and to you when we take into consideration that Cresceus is a product of Toledo. He was raised here and trained here. And he has upheld the honor and dignity of Toledo by defeating the fastest horses in the world.” The following day the festivities continued with Cresceus honoured by a huge crowd at the local track. Though it was meant to just be an exhibition, Cresceus set a record on a half-mile track when he trotted the mile in 2:09 3/4. Almost bizarrely, a little later in the afternoon Cresceus was hitched to a wagon and trotted an exhibition mile in 2:13 1/4 (1.22,8), the world’s half-mile-track record to wagon. With the colt in excellent form, Ketcham decided on a trip to Terra Haute’s exceptionally fast track for an attempt to lower the 2:04 stallion world record. It wasn’t to be, though, as Cresceus trialled in 2:05 1/4 (1.17,8) on Oct 16 and 2:04 1/4 (1.17,2) three days later. After this, Cresceus got his well-deserved winter break. “When he returned home at the close of the memorable campaign of 1900, he held the following world’s records: Fastest mile by a stallion; fastest two-heat race ever won by a trotter; fastest three-heat race by a stallion; fastest five-heat race on record; fastest eight-heat race on record; fastest mile by a trotter on a half-mile track, and the fastest mile to wagon by a trotter on a half-mile track.”

A spectacular season

He was already at the top but it was going to get even better in 1901. While The Abbot was considered faster, and most likely able to lower his 2:03 1/4 record trial, Cresceus was seen as the more gritty and supreme race-horse. In his seasonal debut he easily put away, to the point it was almost a humiliation, Charley Herr in a free-for-all at Detroit, winning the 2:06 3/4 and 2:05 (1.18,8 and 1.17,7), the latter a new world record for a second heat after a 30 second fourth quarter. The seven-year-old sorrel was in better shape than ever before, and she proved it the following week at Cleveland’s Glenville track. On Jul 26, Cresceus went up again The Abbot’s record yet again. Heavy rain had left the track soft and wet in many places, and before the trial starting-judge Barnard made a statement to the audience about the conditions. “If the record is not broken, Cresceus will give a creditable performance, but it will not be his fault if the record is not lowered”, he stated. Many were therefore sceptical when Cresceus reached the quarter in 30 seconds flat. The Toledoan trotter wasn’t affected by the track, however, and came to the half in 1:01. A third quarter in 30 3/4 meant he was on track to beat the record. He came down the stretch to a the enthusiastic crowd cheering him on with Tim Murnen driving the pacemaker Mike The Tramp on his inside and Ed Benyon driving another runner on his outside, and reach the line in 2:02 3/4 (1.16,3). Afterwards, according John McCartney in The Story of a Great Horse, one admirer dubbed the trotter “The Monarch of the Mile”, a reference to his sire Robert McGregor having the nickname “Monarch of the Homestretch.”

Cresceus’ new world record didn’t stand for long, though – courtesy of himself. Just a week later, on Aug 2, he lowered in by another half-second, to 2:02 1/4 (1.16,0), at Columbus, OH. Again the conditions were unfavourable; the track was good but there was a strong wind and Ketcham didn’t think it possible to lower the record. Again his groom Tim Murnen would be at his side with the runner Mike the Tramp, and Dan Lake joined them at the half-mile pole with another pacemaker. Facing the wind Cresceus used his seemingly endless strength and reach the quarter-pole in a spectacular 29 3/4. With the wind at his back he stormed to the half-mile pole and passed it in 59 3/4, at that point faster than any trotter in history. Going strong Cresceus and Ketcham reached the three-quarter pole in 1:30 1/4, but the chestnut now had to face the wind for the last quarter. He couldn’t pull off another clip around 30, but even with a 32 last quarter he came home in 2:02 1/4 (1.16,0), yet another new world record. The world record effort didn’t take too much out of Cresceus, who “was not unduly fatigued by his effort, and half an hour later seemed ready for another record-breaking mile. Hundreds of men and women visited his stall and watched the champion being cooled out. When he was led out for a walk, after being rubbed down, he showed no sign of weariness. His eye was clear and bright, his respiration steady and he capered like a kitten.”

The world record, set under far from excellent conditions, It also raises the question of how fast Cresceus was capable of trotting? John Hervey, in the Jun 3, 1936, Harness Horse, offered a convincing argument why the sorrel colt easily could have been the world’s first two-minute trotter: “Now Cresceus, as he was rigged and as he went, stopped precisely at the notch where Uhlan was when Mr. Tanner “made him over” — to wit, 2:02 1/4. And I have often wondered if Cresceus, could he have fallen into similar hands, might not have fared similarly? He unquestionably had the speed to trot a mile much faster than he did. He could and did go halves in 59 3/4 and quarters in 28 3/4 – and we know that he had immense strength (he was much larger and more powerfully made than Uhlan) never “ran down,” and that his courage was endless.

It is interesting to speculate on what Cresceus might not have done, differently rigged, gaited and balanced; hitched to a sulky which did not lift his driver high up above him where he got all the wind-­resistance; and with a man that weighed 150 lbs. or less, instead of 175 lbs. behind him. As I said in my previous article, it is not unreasonable to believe that he would have been the world’s first two‑minute trotter.

Probably if anything would have stopped him, it was his high hind action. Yet it was not nearly so high as that of Major Delmar 1:59 3/4 (1.14,4). Or as that of The Harvester 2:01 (1.15,2), the latter having been the first horse to deprive Cresceus of the stallion crown.”

A tour west

Cresceus then made an attempt, at Poughkeepsie, at lowering the record even further, but failed. Meanwhile, both the owner and trainer of The Abbot thought their horse could beat the new champion. Ketcham never turned down an opportunity to race Cresceus, and the two trotters met up in a $12,000 match race over five heats at the Brighton Beach track, New York on Aug 15. Writers dubbed it as the great race of the century. In the first heat Cresceus led from wire to wire, going like a steam locomotive, never let The Abbot in the race and came home a length ahead in 2:03 1/4 (1.16,6). In the second the duo went the firth eighth in an unparalleled 13 seconds, but The Abbot’s supporters let out a collective groan of dismay when the gelding broke going into the turn. With his competitor having lost a lot Ketcham urged Cresceus on and, despite Geers and The Abbot giving it their all, managed to shut out their rival. As Cresceus hit the wire in 2:06 1/4 (1.18,4), The Abbot was two lengths on the wrong side of the distance flag and the race was over after just two heats. For good measure, Cresceus and Ketcham trotted an exhibition mile in 2:05 (1.17,7) to make up for the lost third heat.

Cresceus then won a free-for-all at Readville before he failed a record attempt at Providence. On Sep 21, Cresceus beat The Abbot in a $20,000 match race at Readville. Although The Abbot won the second, Cresceus easily held off his competitor in the firth, third and fourth, winning the latter by ten lengths. As nobody was willing to go up against the Toledoan trotter anymore, Cresceus was confined to exhibition miles for the remainder of the season.

A second Cresceus Day

On Oct 11, 1901 it was again “Cresceus Day” in Toledo. The champion horse trotting an exhibition mile with all proceeds going to local charities. George Ketcham had himself suggested a fun family day for charity with the exhibition mile as an integral part specifically on Oct 11 as that was his mother’s 80th birthday. According to report, around 20,000 showed up, each paying a 25 cent admission, and got to see Cresceus first set a world record over a half-mile track in 2:09 1/2 (1.20,5), then another record as he trotted a mile to wagon in 2:12. Exactly two weeks later Cresceus lowered the half-mile record by a quarter, to 2:09 1/4 (1.20,3), in Kansas City. This was the start of a tour west where Cresceus also appeared at Minneapolis, St Louis, Denver, Pueblo, CO, the Agricultural Park at Los Angeles, Tucson, Albuquerque, Dallas and Denison, TX he set numerous records. The latter, in Denison, was on Jan 4, 1902. There Cresceus trotted in 2:16 1/4 (1.24,7) over a half-mile track in poor condition where the weather was so cold that Ketcham had one of his fingers frost-bitten.

After standing stud in the spring, Cresceus went some exhibition miles and attempted to lower his record even further in the 1902 season. These trials were fruitless, though, and even though he made some creditable attempts the result of many demanding races and traveling across the country for several years seemed to slightly catch up to him. In Nov 1902 Cresceus raced Bobby Walthour, according to Wikipedia “one of the best American professional cyclists of his era”, losing the race over a muddy track in Atlanta.

The fake record

Like the previous year Cresceus spent the spring of 1903 at stud, but before that he had been on a short trip to Canada. On Feb 15, 1903 Cresecus set a Canadian record on ice, trotting a mile in 2:15 (1.23,9) on the ice in Ottawa. Later he did several exhibition miles, something which paid well for Ketcham. On Aug 25, 1903, Cresceus lost his absolute world record when Lou Dillon trotted in 2:00 over the Readville track. Today that record would be completely ignored as it was done with a runner staying in front of her and acting as a wind-breaker. Back in 1903, however, the record was considered genuine. Ketchum believed that he, too, had a two-minute trotter and saw the latest record as a challenge. The trotting world was both surprised and shocked when news came from Wichita that the old king had retaken the crown with a 1:59 3/4 (1.14,4) clocking in a trial there on Oct 19, 1903. The feelings almost immediately turned to suspicion amid numerous rumours that the time was fraudulent. William H Knight, secretary of the American Trotting Association personally went to Wichita to investigate.

It quickly became clear that it didn’t add up. 17 days prior to his alleged record, Cresceus had trotted the Wichita track, though slow from rain, in 2:11 1/2 (1.21,7). Then, two days prior he had trotted two miles there, again over a slow track, in 4:21 (1.21,1). In early November 1903 the Chicago Tribune wrote that people in the crowd who had stopwatches all timed the horse between 2:04 and 2:06 (1.17,1 and 1.18,3). However, “nearly every one of men who timed the mile much slower than it was given out has declined to make affidavit to the fact when asked to do so. Several of them admit having told what their watches showed, but will not swear to the fact because they said it would hurt them in a business way in Wichita, and one man is understood ot have already felt the effects of a boycott because he talked too freely. Local pride stands in the way of securing legal proof of what everybody believes to be true, but while this may work in Wichita it will be of no avail elsewhere, and the alleged record is certain to be rejected, as stated above.”

In the end, the record was thrown out, as was the appeal brought by the Wichita track. The appeal took more than a year to settle but ended with not only the rejection of the alleged record, but also with the Southern Kansas Fair association of Wichita, as well as its president and the three timers present at the race being expelled. One of the timers, Mr AC Jordan, testified under oath that he and Ketcham had a plan prior to the trial, but another timer, who was supposedly also included in that plan, denied this. In the end Ketcham was found not guilty as the board found the evidence fell short of sufficiency in establishing criminal participation, even though they had found Jordan’s story “is not without corroboration in matters of minor detail.” By the time the matter of the alleged record was settled, Cresceus had long been retired. Three weeks after the infamous trial, on Nov 10, 1903, the nine-year-old Cresceus made his last appearance on the track at Kansas.

A new owner

In late 1905 Ketcham, for reasons lost to history, decided to sell Cresceus at the upcoming Old Glory sale at Madison Square Gardens. On Nov 22, 1905, the legendary trotter was sold for $21,000 to Marion Willis Savage of Minneapolis, the owner of Dan Patch and Directum. Cresceus and Savage did not make a good pair, and it became national news the following summer when the colt “has positively refused to be trained or given any fast work by Hersey, who trains for Savage.” The new owner had intended to exhibit the son of Robert McGregor along with his stablemate Dan Patch, and trainer Hersey “figured that Cresceus had more than an even chance to reduce his record this year.” When nothing worked and the 2:02-trotter refused to go fast, Savage asked Ketcham for help. The former owner was only happy to oblige and immediately travelled to Minnesota. “Upon reaching the luxurious home provided for Cresceus, Ketcham went to the stall door and it required but one call of his voice for the champion trotter to recognize the man who had driven him in his many wonderful performances, and the horse gave every evidence of pleasure upon again seeing Ketcham.

After having the harness put on the trotter Ketchum got into the sulky, jogged him and worked him several slow heats, the horse performing in his usual prompt and cheerful manner and apparently taking pleasure in showing his former trainer that he still retained the speed and manners which earned him championship honor. After giving Cresceus several heats Ketchum requested Hersey to take the reins and work the horse a mile, but the latter had no sooner got into the sulky than the great trotter refused to be driven or led onto the track, and he continued to sulk until Ketcham again took the reins.

When Ketcham was asked to explain Cresceus’ remarkable actions he turned to Savage and said: “You know, Mr Savage, how you used to work when you were young and without fame or fortune; but would you be willing to work in the same way now?” Savage admitted he could not. “And that’s what the matter with Cresceus”, replied Ketcham. “He evidently anticipates what is required of him, and knowing that he has won the world’s highest applause, he is determined to do no more hard work.”

Despite this, Savage persisted and attempted one final exhibition. On Sep 15, 1906 Cresceus trotted 2:15 (1.23,9) in an exhibition at Galesburg, IL. It was met with criticism as the former great was limping on the track and clearly not in condition. Writes famed harness journalist Henry Ten Eyck White, “Cresceus, with a record of 2:02 1/4 and a greater list of victories to his credit than any other horse in the world can show, crow-hopping around a billiard table track in 2:15 to secure a few paltry dollars. No wonder the big crowd at Galesburg was pained and disgusted instead of pleased.”

Going East

Unable to recoup his investment by running a lot of exhibitions, in the spring of 1908 Savage sold Cresceus to a Russia for $25,000. Almost bizarrely history repeated itself as, within a year, Cresceus’ new owners sent for Ketcham when he couldn’t get the sorrel colt to even come out of his stall. The breeder was only happy to make the trip to St Petersburg. “Cresceus recognized the voice of his former owner as soon as he stepped into the stable and began kicking and thumping at the door. It took Mr Ketcham but a few minutes to make the horse forget his grievances. After Ketcham had been in the stall a few minutes he placed a bridle on Cresceus and led him out. It was the first time the animal had been from the enclosure in over six weeks. The horse followed his former owner about like a faithful dog and within an hour Mr Ketcham had him hitched and was driving on the track. The intelligent animal seemed to know who had hold of the lines. Mr Stanage, the horse’s present owner, and the trainer were greatly surprised at the Toledo man’s influence with the champion. Mr Ketcham explained the peculiarities of the horse and it is not expected that the Russians will have farther trouble.” As it turned out, while being worked on the track his Russian trainer had struck him with the whip. It was the first time the champion had even felt the last and he resented it and basically went on a strike. Ketcham would later write in the book about Cresceus that, “it is the general impression of those not intimately acquainted with the habits of the McGregor family of horses that they are ugly and hard to handle. But this is far from being the facts. Whenever a McGregor has been handled with kindness, he has been tractable and kind in every way, but they are a class of horses which will not stand abuse, and will resent ill-treatment in very way.”

The son of Robert McGregor stood stud for several years in Russia but failed to produce many good trotters. When the first World War broke out it didn’t take long for a rumour to go around the American harness community that the exported trotter had ben recruited to the service of the Russian army, pulling a commissary wagon. It was a terrible fate for a 20-year-old colt, but it turned out to be rumours without any factual basis. Frank Caton, one of the American trainers in Moscow confimed it was a lie to the US press, and in early 1916 he also confirmed that Cresceus had died a peaceful death in the stable of his Russian owner around December 1, 1915.

Cresceus didn’t leave much of an impact at stud, but was notably the damsire of the very good Russian trotter Zamorskoe Chudo 2:08.1 (1.19,7), a paternal grandson of another exported American trotter, General Forrest. Zamorskoe Chudo founded a sireline that lived for several generations until the end of the Soviet Union. Through this horse Cresceus is found in the pedigree of Hibrid/Gibrid 2:00.4 (1.15,0). This is not the only way he is found in some more modern pedigree. Cresceus’ son Gaius Cresceus is the damsire of Diamond Axworthy, who was exported to, and stood stud in, Denmark from 1930. Because of that he is found in the pedigree of European group 1-winner Chief Orlando. Another European group 1 winner, Capital Mail, goes back on the maternal line to Cresceus’ daughter Ardita Cresceus, who was exported to Italy. He is also still found in a few North American pacing pedigree, e.g. though his son Bay Wreath is found in the maternal pedigree of My Wicked Willie p1:50.3 (1.08,7), $340,883.

Cresceus’ sister Nightingale is found in pretty much every pedigree today, most notably because the legendary Super Bowl descends from her on the maternal line. Other great trotters belonging to this maternal family include Hambletonian Oaks-winner Park Avenue Kathy, Go Get Lost, top Italian trio Traders, Nesta Effe and Marielles, Swedish group 1-winners Pato and Villiam as well as Norwegian-born group 1-winner Looking Superb.