What kind of car do you drive? Chevy Silverado. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Eggplant Parmigiana; Peanuts. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? Maybe Buffalo because it is home. That is where I started driving, so there is a little more memory there. What is your favorite event in racing? I haven’t been to anything big, but I’d say the Hambletonian because my family has always been more into trotters and I have more of an appreciation for that. How often is racing on your mind? All the time; non-stop. I hate to admit that but it is the truth. What is your favorite thing to do outside of racing? Go fishing when it is nice outside. What is your favorite sport to watch? Team? Hockey – Buffalo Sabres, but that is an embarrassing answer as well. I like watching other teams, but that’s because I love the game that much. It is pretty hard to live in Buffalo without rooting for the Buffalo teams. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know? That I have a bachelor’s degree in Economics. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Passion. I was originally thinking competition, but that is not what it is all about. I love driving and winning races, but when I’m home, I work in the barn with my father (Darrin Monti), we have eight-head, and I love that as much as I love driving. Just like someone being involved in any world, if you love horses and love being able to race and compete, it’s kind of passion more than anything. Speaking of working with horses, you have a perfect 1-for-1 winning record as a trainer, right? I raced a horse at a Fair like forever ago and it ran off the screen (won by a lot), but I thought I better just stick to driving and retire perfect. How did you get started in the sport? My family has been in it on both sides for three generations. Obviously you know my uncle Tim Bojarski (Chairman of the Board – USHWA). My grandfather on that side of the family raced horses and my grandfather on my dad’s side of the family raced horses. Uncle Tim, my father, my mom was in it her whole life. That’s how my aunt and uncle met, that’s how my parents met. That’s just how it is. I grew up in the barn from a baby, literally. Was there ever a chance you weren’t going to be involved in the sport? My parents didn’t encourage me to do it. So I would say it was like a 50/50 chance of doing it or not. Of course it can be a difficult business, especially if you are not on the top of the game. They were always very adamant about my going to school and not worrying about racing. Obviously I was going to school but then I started driving and things took off. They’ve never interfered with anything. I just decided that this was what I wanted to do. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten about harness racing? When you are starting out and you don’t really know a lot, you really lean on the people you are with. If you are driving with other drivers who have been around a lot, you listen, you watch. If you are driving for trainers that have been around for a long time, you try to listen to what they think. One of the most aggressive drivers at Buffalo Raceway told me one of the first weeks I was driving, I got parked one day and shouldn’t have gotten parked, he said, ‘Don’t ever be afraid to call an audible. Don’t ever let anyone tell you what to do. Don’t let anyone convince you that only one thing can happen.’ It was kind of odd because this was the type of guy who leaves in 27 (seconds) and won’t take a hole, so I thought that was kind of good advice from a guy I wouldn’t expect to hear it from. It was something that really stuck with me because it was really early in my career. What was your favorite moment in harness racing? I won a Sire Stakes final in Massachusetts with Odds On Orlando this last year. It was my biggest win so far. That day at the finals I had a couple of big shots and I really wasn’t having a good day. She was the last horse and I was like, get this or don’t get nothing, and she was awesome. That was a lot of fun. Is there a race that you dream about winning? Hambletonian. I can remember growing up watching big races with my father, because he drove for 25 years. I think he retired in maybe 2004 or 2005. He just trains now. We would always come home after racing and watch the Meadowlands replay show at like midnight. We would never miss one of those. We would watch other tracks too, but that was one show he would tape and we would never miss it. I always had aspirations to go to The Meadowlands because it is the big-time. It is one of the top places in the world and the Hambo just goes hand in hand with that. Which is your favorite horse you’ve ever driven? Eddie Morgan owned a horse (Ophiuchus N), Tony Morgan’s father. He sent it to Buffalo after Sports Creek closed. This horse could leave the gate like you wouldn’t believe. He made the front in three steps. We had him seven or eight months, I think in 2014, and he won like 13 races. He won every race in April. I loved driving him. I loved Tony’s dad, Eddie. He would tell me that I was doing a great job. And don’t get me wrong, this horse was only an eight or ten claimer, but he was one of my favorites to drive. I will never forget him. You’ve picked up a handful of wins for a respectable 10% win rate in January at The Meadowlands. Is that track your ultimate goal or are you happy staying on the Batavia/Buffalo circuit? I definitely want to branch out. I have a lot more the end of this past year and this winter, but I don’t really have any concrete plans. I’d like to aspire for more than Buffalo or Batavia. I love it here. it is my home. I never plan on leaving and never coming back. That being said, there is so much more out there. How could you not go other places. Do you think you have more to learn before you take that step? I think I’m pretty much ready. Don’t get me wrong, you can always get better, but you have to move your way up as you go. I did a little bit of stakes driving for Lindy Farms this year. They used me at Plainridge and then shipped me out to Red Mile and Hoosier when they needed me. You have to find your own path. You go places when it suits you. You need to be on an ‘A’ circuit, but when you watch enough guys drive, there are good drivers all over that have done it for a long time. I love going to new places and meeting people I have never met before; guys who have done it their whole life. One for instance is Larry Stalbaum. He’s been all over, maybe every venue that has ever been open. He came to Buffalo for like a year. I can’t tell you the life experience and the little things you pick up just by being around him because he’s been involved in this business his whole life. He’s the epitome of hard work. He didn’t have anything his whole life and everything he has, he worked hard for. He’s an inspiration of what harness racing is. In terms of starts, you keep a relatively light schedule. Have you ever thought about pulling double duty like so many drivers nowadays? I would have to be in the right area. The workload wouldn’t bother me. It would just come down to location. This last year was pretty busy with doing Plainridge Monday, Thursday, Friday and Buffalo Wednesday and Saturday. I was mixing in Tioga on Sunday, so I only really had off on Tuesday. That said, if I was in a more convenient area, like between Meadowlands and Monticello or Freehold, where you could do two cards a day, I would do it if I could. What does your current schedule look like? I’m going to be at Buffalo on Wednesdays and Meadowlands on Fridays and Saturdays. I’ll add Plainridge when they open in April. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? It’s easy to say because I’m younger, but I guess I wish they would do more things to make the presentation less stale. Not so much at a place like The Meadowlands, because they do try new things, but I guess I’m thinking with how they do fantasy sports now. People are obsessed with that. They check all the time to see which players to start. Maybe we need to open the doors a little to allowing people to just bet drivers or bet trainers. Maybe some sort of fantasy style betting or even something not including betting. I think we need a bit of an update that way to target a new generation. How do you view the future of harness racing? I think the future is good. You see people breeding. You see tracks going for good money, so I don’t see anything dangerous in the future. Of course there is always unpredictability. I haven’t been doing this quite long enough to speak to that, whereas older people can. They’ve seen more things and know what the score is. Obviously I feel comfortable enough to do it for a living, so hopefully I end up ok. If you had one wish in life, what would you wish for? My grandfather on my mom’s side just passed away in the late wintertime. He was a huge fan. He came down to The Meadowlands the last time I was there to watch and stood in the winner’s circle with me. He was one of my biggest fans and I wish he could still be here to enjoy it with me. Time for the stretch drive. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Lasix – Yes or No?: Yes, absolutely. Best race you ever saw:  He’s Watching at Buffalo Raceway. I’m almost sure he won and made two breaks during the mile. It was just a New York Sire Stakes, but it was just freakish. He made a break coming out of the first turn, came back pacing and brushed to the front, made another break and came back to win. It was just absurd. You’ve never seen anything like it, especially at that racetrack. The was probably the best race I saw in person. Best place to eat near Buffalo: Russell’s Steak House.