Born: May 23, 1972, Mexico City, Mexico
Resident: Monrovia, Calif.
Height: 5'2”
Weight: 112
Family: Single

A relatively new comer to the sport of horse racing, Victor Espinoza from Mexico City is one of the best up and coming jockeys on the planet. Growing up Victor drove a bus in his native Mexico City before turning to riding lessons which were on a farm outside Mexico City after high school.

Mexico City native collected his first winner in 1992 at Hippodromo de las Americas. He rode 79 winners in four months at Hippodromo. In 1993 he moved to the United States, riding at Santa Anita Park, then Bay Meadows. Winning 93 races with earnings of $3.7-million in 1999, Espinoza rode 243 winners last year in 2005 and had earnings of $13,286,705 to rank 7 th nationally. He also rode his 1,000th career winner in early February at Santa Anita Park. The

Career:

• Ranked third on the money-earned list in 2004 with $15,933,757 and 15th in wins with 240.
  
• Has one Breeders' Cup victory aboard Spain in the 2000 Distaff. Seconds in the 2001with Distaff with Spain and on Kafwain in the 2002 Juvenile.

• Top mounts in 2005 included Choctaw Nation (G2 San Diego Handicap and third-place finisher in the Dubai World Cup), Imperialism (G2 Pat O'Brien), Super Frolic (G2 Hawthorne Gold Cup), Hollywood Story (G3 Hawthorne Handicap), Happy Ticket (G1 Beldame) and the ill-fated What a Song.
• Topped standings at Fairplex in 1996 and 1997.
• In addition to the Breeders' Cup victory with Spain, he won the Hollywood Gold Cup with Early Pioneer.
• Won the 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes 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 and 10th on Borrego in 2004.
• 2002 ESPY Award for Best Jockey.
• 2004, rode Declan's Moon, who was voted 2-Year-Old Champion.