Born in Newark, New Jersey, [1] Benny Marinelli was working as a shipyard laborer when a friend suggested his small stature meant he might be able to make it as a jockey.
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, Jr., he also guided Wilderness to victory in the prestigious Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
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.
Separated from his wife for two years, and having difficulty returning to peak riding form, on October 24, 1927, a despondent Benny Marinelli checked into a New York City rooming house where he killed himself by inhaling gas.