Victor Espinoza
- Height: 5’2”
- Weight: 112
- Born: May 23, 1972, Mexico City, Mexico
- Residence: Arcadia, Calif.
- Family: Single.
- Has one Breeders’ Cup victory from 36 mounts, winning the 2000 Distaff aboard Spain. Finished second aboard Spain in the 2001 Distaff and on Kafwain in the 2002 Juvenile.
- Top mounts in 2010 include Evening Jewel (G1 Del Mar Oaks, G2 San Clemente and Honeymoon Handicap); The Usual Q.T. (G1 Eddie Read Stakes), Smiling Tiger (G1 Bing Crosby Stakes and G3 Lazaro Barrera Memorial Stakes) and Sweet August Moon (G2 A Gleam Handicap and G3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap). He also won stakes races aboard La Nez and Macias. Other mounts include Princess Taylor and Izshelegal.
- Began his winning partnership with the Usual Q.T. last fall when he won the G2 Oak Tree Derby, G1 Hollywood Derby and G3 Sir Beaufort Stakes.
- Won the 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness with War Emblem. War Emblem stumbled badly at the start of the Belmont Stakes and finished eighth. Finished third in his first Kentucky Derby on Congaree in 2001.
- Drove a bus in his native Mexico City before turning to riding. Said, "It's a lot easier riding horses than driving in that traffic in Mexico City." First riding lessons were on a farm outside Mexico City after high school. Also attended a jockey school for one year, a requirement in Mexico. Won his first race at Hippodromo de las Americas in 1992 and four months later moved his tack to the United States.
- In the United States in 1993, rode at Santa Anita Park, then Bay Meadows. Was leading apprentice at Bay Meadows in 1993-94 and at Golden Gate in 1994.
- Moved to Southern California and topped standings at Fairplex in 1996 and 1997.
- His breakthough year was 2000. He won three major riding titles, starting with the Hollywood Park spring/summer meet, followed by Del Mar and tied for the lead during the Hollywood Park fall meet with Laffit Pincay Jr. In 2000, he won 31 stakes races, 15 of them graded. He ranked seventh nationally in earnings that year with $13.2 million. In addition to the Breeders’ Cup victory with Spain, he won the Hollywood Gold Cup with Early Pioneer, his first win in a $1 million or Grade 1 race.
- Has won riding titles at all the tracks on the Southern California circuit (Del Mar, Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Fairplex).
- Won his 2,000th career race on March 19, 2006 at Santa Anita, aboard Fear No Darkness, fittingly trained by Bob Baffert, the conditioner of War Emblem, Espinoza's winning Kentucky Derby mount.
- Won a record seven races at Del Mar on Labor Day, 2006, to eclipse the six-win mark shared by Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay Jr., and Rudy Rosales.
- Espinoza was the regular rider of The Tin Man, winner of the G1 Shoemaker BC Mile in 2007 at age nine. Also rode the gallant old campaigner to victory in the 2006 G1 Arlington Million and to a second-place finish in the 2007 G1 Arlington Million. The Tin Man was retired in November of 2007, after surgery.
- Part of a family racing tradition. Brother Jose is a rider in New York and another brother, Leo, is a former rider now living in Mexico City.
- Won the 2002 ESPY Award for Best Jockey.
- Spends spare time in the gym or at the wheel of his sports car.
