Marianna Monaco plans to keep ‘driving on’

Whether driving a golf ball or driving a horse, Marianna Monaco knows the thrill of victory. The 25-year-old New Yorker has won a total of eight races as an amateur driver and her share of tournaments as an amateur golfer.

In 2017, Monaco captured the New York State Women’s Amateur golf championship one year after being the event’s runner-up. The past two years, she has won the Women’s Dutchess County Amateur. On the racetrack, Monaco got her first win in 2018 in a matinee at Goshen Historic Track. The victory came on her 23rd birthday. She notched her first pari-mutuel triumph last year in the GSY Amateur Series at The Meadowands and finished the season with six wins. Earlier this week, she won a Billings Amateur Series race at Yonkers. It was her first victory at The Hilltop, which is where Monaco and her family spent many nights enjoying the races over the years.

On Friday, Monaco will be back in the GSY Series at The Meadowlands. She is starting from post one with Deerfield Beach and is 10-1 on the morning line. Monaco intends to play more golf this year, possibly with an eye toward turning pro. But she also plans to keep driving on.

“I think the driving is more for fun, but as soon as I get off the bike I watch replays to see what I could have done better,” Monaco said. “In golf, you can shoot 65 but you can look at the scorecard and say you left a couple shots out there. It’s the same with driving; you can win a race, but it’s always a learning process. I think that’s why I enjoy it a lot”.