Education
The following year, Benny Marinelli finished second to Chick Language for most wins by a United States jockey in 1921 with 118.
The following year, Benny Marinelli finished second to Chick Language for most wins by a United States jockey in 1921 with 118.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Benny Marinelli was working as a shipyard laborer when a friend suggested his small stature meant he might be able to be make it as a jockey. Marinelli eventually decided to explore the possibility and took a job as a stable hand. After learning to ride, he embarked on a professional riding career in 1920.
He rode on the east coast then went to compete at the winter meet at the Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico where he met with great success.
That same year, for owner Richard Thornton Wilson, Junior., he also guided Wilderness to victory in the prestigious Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. On May 8, 1925, Benny Marinelli was severely injured in a racing accident at Jamaica Racetrack in Jamaica, New New York
He suffered a fractured skull and was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica where on the following Tuesday, the New York Times reported that doctors had given up on him, saying he "had practically no chance of recovery." After remaining in a coma for ten days, Marinelli regained consciousness and eventually was able to return to racing. However, in The Miami News report on his death, the newspaper said that during the two plus years after his accident he "had had many mental lapses since."
He was buried in his native Newark, New Jersey.
In their reports on his death, the Reading Eagle newspaper wrote that Marinelli was twenty-five years old, but the Miami News said he was twenty-four.