Drew Monti at the reins with Wild Ride, his second win for the night on Wednesday.
By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs
On a night when he could seemingly do nothing wrong, Drew Monti put on a driving clinic Wednesday (Oct. 26) at Batavia Downs, winning seven of the 10 races he competed in. And among his drives, he also scored a second and a third and posted a lofty .788 UDR for the evening.
Track photographer Paul White spent some quality time with Monti in the Purple Haze Winner's Circle as he took his picture with Jimi Wind Ricks ($5.00, 1:59.1), Wild Ride ($4.60, 2:01.4), Hustleonhome ($14.60, 1:57.4), Heavenly Way ($4.80, 1:57), Springhouse Star ($10, 1:56.3), Girls Luv Diamonds ($3.50, 1:56.2) and Always An Optimist ($4.20, 1:56.4).
By the end of the year, Monti has a chance to eclipse his career best numbers for wins and money earned that he set in 2015. In his short four-year career, the 22-year-old Monti has won 649 races and has bankrolled just under $3.5 million in purses.
With his two closest competitors for the dash driving title not in action on Wednesday, Monti jumped into a two-win lead as a result of his efforts. He now sits alone atop the standings with 75 wins, ahead of Jim Morrill Jr. who is second with 73 and Kevin Cummings who is third with 68.
With 20 nights of racing remaining in the meet, it will most likely be a battle to the last race on the final night to decide this year’s driving winner.
Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday (Oct. 28) with the first race post time set at 6:15 p.m.
