by Michael Carter, for Buffalo Raceway

Hamburg, NY — When Drew Monti started driving at Buffalo Raceway last April he was following in the footsteps of three generations of his family in the business. Drew picked up the niche from his father (Darrin Monti) and his grandfather (Carl Monti) who both are still in the game, training and owning Standardbreds.

Steve Roth photo

Drew Monti shows talent at a young age.

Monti was born Oct. 4, 1994, in Western New York and was also raised here. He currently attends Canisius College where he is studying management and had been studying veterinary science.

Monti received his provisional license in 2012 and started racing in the New York fair circuit and qualified horses. His first pari-mutuel win came in September 2013 at Batavia Downs behind Right Back At You, trained by his father.

Drew says of his dad, “He has been in the sport all of his life and drove for 25 years before me. I really look up to him and my grandfather and we still review races to this day after my drives.”

Currently Monti sits at 96 career victories and is very quickly approaching 100 wins as he already has 19 victories in 181 starts this season.

Since beginning his career, he has raced all over New York and he credits a lot of his success to not driving emotionally, being clear minded and also being aware of what is going on around him as his strategy.

He said, “I love the long stretch at Buffalo, but also enjoy racing at Batavia. Batavia is a lot harder if you do not have a lot of power.”

Based on his driving so far here at Buffalo, he loves the rail almost as much as Calvin Borel does in Thoroughbred racing.

When being asked about the favorite horse that he has driven, he said that he had a couple, but the one who sticks out in his mind was Spender Hanover (Cam’s Card Shark-Special Beauty). Recently, Spender Hanover gave driver Tim Tetrick his 8,000th career victory at Meadowlands Racetrack.

Monti said he knew this horse was different and loved driving him while he was in Western New York for owner Howard Ouriel and trainer Don Rothfuss.

When asked about his future in driving, about possibly going to the Grand Circuit or even the sire stakes, Monti was very open to the idea, but is taking his time.

Racing at the Hamburg oval continues throughout the month of March on Wednesday and Thursday with a first post of 5 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday at 6:40 p.m. Racing in April will take place Wednesday at 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 6:40 p.m.