Small | Horse Racing Free Tips

Review: Small, a One-Man Off-Broadway Show

Officially, SMALL is a one-man show, written and performed by Robert (Bobby) Montano, the story of his years-long attempt to maintain riding weight and the lengths he went to in order to do so. But it would be more appropriately described as a show with over a dozen roles, all played by Montano.

Over 85 minutes, Montano slides in and out of different characters that all of us in racing will recognize, from Bob and Sue Duncan to Robert Pineda to Mickey Preger to stereotypical assistant trainers and fellow exercise riders, jockeys, racetrack characters-even his own mother and father. He does so with ease.

For those of us who spent time around Belmont Park in the late 70s and early 80s, it's like a walk down memory lane, as he chats with Frank Pagano Jr., brushes past Angel Cordero, and dances at the Rafters, the popular Saratoga disco of the era.

On a Sunday afternoon at the 59E59 theater in midtown Manhattan, in the middle of the Saratoga meeting, I believe I am the only racetracker in the audience experiencing this, but the rest of the crowd found the performance as mesmerizing as I did, bursting into laughter or spontaneous applause at several points during the performance, and doing the only possible thing at the end of the show: giving Montano a standing ovation.

Montano, the guest on last week's TDN Writers' Room, grew up near Belmont Park, and found his `in' to the racing world when he was delivering newspapers as a 12-year-old in Elmont, Long Island. Bob Duncan, the longtime NYRA starter, was one of his customers, and his wife, Sue, who would go on to be a trainer, was galloping horses. She began taking Montano to work with her at 4:30 in the morning, and he soon found a job with Preger.

Like any 12-year-old boy well under five feet tall, Montano starts out wishing he would grow, but as soon as he sets his sights on being a jockey, he starts praying to God for the opposite. And as he continues to grow, he takes his quest to extreme measures-amphetamines, purging, and 17-mile runs with his body wrapped in Saran Wrap. For people in the industry, it's a sad tale we've heard all too often. For the rest of the audience, it must have seemed shocking as he descends into stints in the hotbox in between popping Lasix pills. One time, he attempts to lose 10 pounds in a single day in order to accept a mount. Finally, his body wears out during the preparations for his last-ever race, which Montano recreates in stunning detail.

We root for Montano all along, through his riding days and onto college and a successful career as a t.v. and film actor, and Broadway dancer and actor.

His love of racing is palpable, and you're not sure at the end if he wouldn't do it all over again, even knowing how hard it will be.

Someone in the row behind me said he was exhausted when the show was over; that's how much energy you expend pulling for Montano while you're watching.

It's not a stretch to see SMALL expanding to a production with a full cast, songs, and an orchestra.

In other words, like Montano, SMALL deserves to be something much, much bigger.

Small runs from August 12 to Sept. 2, 2023. For schedule and tickets, visit https://www.59e59.org/shows/show-detail/small/.

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Bobby Montano, The Star Of The Play “SMALL,” Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Growing up in Queens, Bobby Montano eventually became an actor and a dancer, a career he was happy to follow. But before that, his path took him in an entirely different direction. Montano, who was so small as a child that he was bullied, discovered horse racing and decided he wanted to be a jockey. On March 2, 1977, his dream came true as he rode in his first race at Aqueduct. He only rode in seven races and did not have a winner, but he left the sport with a story to tell. That story has turned into the Off-Broadway play “SMALL,” which Montano wrote and stars in. It's coming to New York and the 59 E. 59 Theater on Aug. 12 and will run through Sept. 2.

In advance of SMALL's run in New York, Montano joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to talk about the play and what has been a fascinating life full of ups and downs. Montano was the Green Group Guest of the Week.

Looking at those jockeys riding in New York, he saw people who were as small as he was, but instead of being bullied they were respected athletes, admired by thousands of racing fans. That's what he wanted for himself.

“I was tired of getting picked on,” he said. “But when I saw these little men coming out into the paddock area I saw that they were getting respect. It would get quiet and I would ask my mother what was happening and she said, 'The jockeys have come. That's called respect.' I was just so in love with the whole pageantry of it all. My mother was there to bet on her jockey friend Roberto Pineda. He reminded me of Bruce Lee and I was a huge fan of Bruce Lee.”

Nothing ever came easily for Montano on the racetrack. After a growth spurt, he became too big to be a jockey and his weight was the reason why he couldn't get any mounts. He rode for just five months. He resorted to using laxatives, amphetamines, cocaine and pills called Black Beauties. He would run 17 miles a day.

“I couldn't get there. I was just getting bigger and bigger, and I just didn't know what to do with my life,” he said.

Yet, Montano said he wouldn't trade his time on the racetrack for anything.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” he said. “There are people who have made it work. I look at people like Trevor McCarthy, who I love. He's a wonderful rider and he's five-foot-ten. There were others, like Marco Castaneda. But they all had thin bones. I was born with thick bones. I just was fighting Mother Nature and there was just nothing I could do about it.”

After giving up on his dream to be a jockey, Montano saw Saturday Night Fever, went to the famous disco, the Rafters and discovered the world of dancing and acting. On television, he has appeared as one of Kim Cattrell's lovers, “We William,” in Sex In The City. He has guest starred in, CSI: Miami, Third Watch, Six Degrees, Law & Order, New York Undercover, Law & Order: SVU, Harrison – Cry Of The City, numerous soaps, and as Resto in the HBO film Undefeated, directed by John Leguizamo.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored byhttps://coolmore.com/https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, NYRABets.com, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, Stonestreet Farms and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Bill Finley, Randy Moss and Zoe Cadman discussed the tragic breakdown of Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) in the GI Test S. Like virtually everyone else in racing, the team tried to come up with answers to what is a horrible problem for the sport but admitted that they had none. The GI Whitney S. was a major topic of discussion, from the huge performance by winner White Abarrio (Race Day) to the lackluster third-place finish by Cody's Wish (Curlin). Looking ahead at the weekend, the focus was on the GI Arlington Million and the other stakes formerly run at Arlington Park that will be run at Colonial Downs. Finley said the Million has lost its mojo since Arlington has closed and said it may be time to simply discontinue these races.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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GMP Farm to Host Montano’s ‘SMALL’ on July 18

GMP Farm in Schuylerville, New York, will host a special performance of Robert Montano's Off-Broadway show “Small” on July 18. All proceeds benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys' Fund (PDJF).

The acclaimed one-man show was written and performed by Montano, who shares his autobiographical story of his transformation from a tiny, bullied PuertoRican/Italian boy who just wanted to dance, to an apprentice jockey learning the culture of the racetrack, to a professional rider, to self-destructive addict trying to maintain the rigorous demands of jockey life, and finally to Broadway, Hollywood and beyond.

Tickets to the one-night performance are $250 and can be purchased online.

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