Famed horse jockey Victor Espinoza was badly injured when the horse he was riding collapsed and died on the track at Del Mar racetrack. According to TMZ, Espinoza suffered “multiple injuries” and has been hospitalized. As you can see in the video above, Espinoza laid motionless on the track after being thrown from the horse.
The incident happened earlier this morning during a training session, before the gates at Del Mar opened for the day’s races.
The horse, Bobby Abu Dhabi, went into cardiac arrest on the track. The horse’s owner, Brian Trump, confirmed this on Twitter a short while later.
“It is with great sadness that I can confirm this morning we lost our boy, Bobby Abu Dhabi to a sudden cardiac arrest on the track. While we are deeply saddened and heartbroken by this loss our thoughts are currently with HOF jockey @VictorEspinoza. Please keep him in your prayers,” Brian Trump tweeted.
Bobby Abu Dhabi finished third at this year’s Belmont Stakes, and had been having a decent year on the track overall.
Although Espinoza’s injuries looked potentially life-threatening, NBC San Diego reports that he is expected to be okay.
“Espinoza suffered a fracture of the C-3 vertebra and a ‘stinger’ to the left shoulder and arm, causing shoulder pain and numbness. He and is awake and moving his legs, according to the hospital,” the outlet said.
“He has regained about 50 percent of the feeling already. Doctors are optimistic he’ll fully recover fairly quickly. It’s the kind of thing that football players get all the time,” Espinoza’s agent Brian Beach said. “It looks like we dodged a bullet,” he added.
Espinoza is a Hall of Fame horse jockey. He has won the Kentucky Derby three times in his career. In 2002, he won riding War Emblem. In 2014, he won atop California Chrome. And, in 2015, he rode American Pharoah to victory. Espinoza went on to win the Triple Crown with American Pharoah, becoming part of an elite group of jockeys who have a Triple Crown listed on their resumes. However, the win was extra special for Espinoza, as he was both the oldest jockey and the first Hispanic jockey to ever win a Triple Crown, according to CBS Sports.
Espinoza has won two ESPY Awards, one in 2002 and the other in 2014, both for Best Jockey. He even competed on Dancing With the Stars, though his time in the ballroom didn’t last very long; He and his dance-pro-partner, Karina Smirnoff, were eliminated on Week 2 of the competition.
