By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs
(Photo courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery)
Batavia, NY — Earlier this week, Batavia Downs’ leading driver, Drew Monti, achieved a major milestone when he surpassed $20 million dollars in career earnings, which came over the last 12-year for the 30-year-old reinsman. And on Wednesday (Nov. 27) night, Batavia Downs made a special trackside presentation to Monti to commemorate the occasion.
Monti is a third generation horseman from Depew, New York and has been a regular at Batavia Downs since he was first licensed. He even won his first pari-mutuel race over the Genesee County oval. From that initial victory, the career numbers that pushed him over the $20 million benchmark were 17,318 starts that yielded 2,571 wins, 2,448 seconds and 2,297 thirds.
This year, Monti is experiencing the best year he’s had in the sulky since 2021 after doing double duty between Batavia Downs and Plainridge Park in Massachusetts. All totalled for 2024 to date, Monti is showing 1,579 starts with 229 wins, 230 seconds and 191 thirds with $2,169,076 in the bank.
At the current Batavia meet alone, Monti sits atop the leaderboard with 111 wins — which is 17 more than his nearest competitor — and those victories have helped his connection’s horses earn $747,361 in purses as a result. Monti is in position to win his third driving title with only three days left in the meet, having claimed that trophy in 2016 and 2018.
Monti was joined in the winners’ enclosure by family, friends and representatives of Batavia Downs.
The final three live racing days at Batavia Downs for 2024 are Saturday (Nov. 30), Wednesday (Dec. 4) and Saturday (Dec. 7). Post time for all three days is 6 p.m.