Gelding, 9, Displays Major League Futility

Treboh Joe made harness racing history Friday by losing his 162nd consecutive race.

Willie Mitchell Jr. said he would continue to race his horse, expecting the 9-year-old gelding to win “sooner or later.”

Going off at 7-1 in the first race at Pocono Downs, the pacer finished fourth in a field of eight, 3 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Joy’s Choice.

“He gives me what he’s got and he tries,” Mitchell said. “The competition is very stiff here.”

Mitchell said he expects to get nearly $100 for finishing fourth. “Fourth place wasn’t bad,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell, 43, is the horse’s fifth owner and has had him for about two years.

Treboh Joe last won on June 4, 1986, at Saratoga Raceway in New York. In 174 starts, he has one victory, 10 second-place finishes and 16 thirds. He has won $13,956.

Mitchell was given the horse on Dec. 25, 1990, by Walter Cohen, for whom Mitchell worked as a groom. Mitchell said he has never had any intention of parting with Treboh Joe.

“As long as the horse is fit and he likes what he’s doing, I’ll continue to race him,” he said.

Shiaway Moses, who had held the record, lost all 161 of his races between 1978 and 1989.