The Third Time is The Charm – Victor Espinoza

Let’s say you’ve won each the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes three times. Where do you go from there? If you’re Victor Espinoza, you simply go on to make horseracing history by winning the Triple Crown. A victory that made the jockey the first Triple Crown winner in over 37 years and the first Latino in history to do so.

Yet, for all the success Espinoza has had, it took an unrelenting drive, worth ethic and risk-taking to get there. Born on a dairy farm in Hidalgo, Mexico, the eleventh of twelve children he and his brother José rode horses on a farm; a track was the furthest thing from his mind. This didn’t stop a then 15-year-old Espinoza from trading Hidalgo for Cancún to assist his brother as a Quarter Horse trainer while paying for jockey school by driving a bus in Mexico City. Within a few years, Espinoza was racing thoroughbreds in el Distrito Federal’s race track, Hipódromo de las Américas.

Espinoza’s next step brought him to the U.S. in 1990 despite not knowing the language or having huge connections. He moved to Northern California and by 1994 was the leading apprentice rider at the Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields racetracks. But his big break came in 2000 when he won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Between 2000 and 2006 he averaged 193 wins a year. Yet, like any other athlete, his career went through a slump until he decided to refocus. “One day, I woke up and I said ‘This is not how I’m going to end up my career,’” he has said. With a new motivation and a new agent in 2013 Espinoza obtained his 3,000th career win.

In 2014 Espinoza became the regular rider of a then unknown colt named American Pharoah. Espinoza teamed with American Pharoah in the horse’s second race. The rest as they say is history. American Pharoah and Espinoza went on to win the 2015 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, the third time Espinoza would win such contests and the perfect set up for Espinoza’s third attempt at the Triple Crown. On June 6, 2015 with American Pharoah, Espinoza won the elusive race. Off the field Espinoza is also doing some pretty special things. He donated 100% of his earnings of the Belmont Stakes to City of Hope for pediatric cancer research.

When asked what advice he’d offer to children aspiring to race horses, Espinoza’s response was quite reflective of his own journey “My only advice for all these young kids, whatever career they choose – not just jockeys – would be just have goals in life and to just never give up.” Never giving up is something Espinoza knows all about.

Image credit: Marwan Naamani