Assael Espinoza Will Ride at Santa Anita Saturday

Espinoza rode American Pharoah trained by Bob Baffert to win horse racing’s Triple Crown, taking both Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes wins as part of his feat.

Track officials reported two horses died Thursday morning after colliding during training sessions at Del Mar. Geovanni Franco from Carson Valley and Assael Espinoza from Charge A Bunch were both unseated by head-on collisions that resulted in their deaths, track officials said.

Early Life and Education

Assael Espinoza is the nephew of Hall-of-Famer Victor Espinoza and an apprentice rider at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. On Friday in Race 7 (Vladimir Cerin-trained South Texas Lingo), Assael rode his inaugural winner as an apprentice rider at Santa Anita.

Espinoza was raised on a farm northeast of Mexico City and made a living driving buses while paying for his horse racing education at Mexico City’s Hippodromo de las Americas race track. By 1992, Espinoza was already winning races there.

Bob Baffert was dissatisfied with how his two colts, Carson Valley and Charge A Bunch, performed during training on Thursday morning. According to UC Davis’ Equine Medical Director, both horses had cervical fractures; Geovanni Franco, riding Charge A Bunch at that time, did not sustain injuries in training nor in his first race that afternoon.

Professional Career

Espinoza leads all jockey and trainer/owner rankings at Del Mar with 44 victories to date and plans on riding seven horses this Saturday at the Southern California track.

Assael, his nephew, is following in the jockey’s footsteps by serving as an apprentice rider at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows before transitioning to Del Mar this year.

He was the top rider at last year’s winter/spring meet and has made an excellent start this year with 56% of his mounts finishing in-the-money.

Achievement and Honors

Nakatani, who has earned over $234 million through mount earnings alone, is a three-time Hall of Fame nominee with more than $234 million accumulated mount earnings and donated ten percent of his winnings to support pediatric cancer research through City of Hope.

He was one of seven jockeys to earn more than $100K at Golden Gate Fields during the 2023 Winter/Spring meet, winning 93 races out of 419 starts for 22% win percentage. He amassed more than $100,000 in purse prizes during this meeting.

Bellafina was saddled by jockey Corey Nakatani to victory in Sunday’s Grade III Sorrento Stakes for trainer Flavien Prat. Leading at the top of the stretch when they collided with Irish Spring and its jockey Geovanni Franco causing both horses to collapse, Nakatani came unceremoniously off his mount and fell.

Personal Life

Espinoza has always shown generosity toward his community through his career. He donates ten percent of his winnings to City of Hope, a non-profit research center and hospital located in Southern California.

He competed on season 21 of Dancing with the Stars with dancer Karina Smirnoff; unfortunately they were eliminated during week two of competition.

Espinoza is single and has no children of his own. However, he is an ardent supporter of City of Hope, having donated all his Belmont Stakes winnings to them. Furthermore, Assael, one of Espinoza’s nephews is following in his footsteps as an apprentice jockey at Santa Anita Park.

Net Worth

Mexican American horse racing jockey Fabiano Zamudio has an estimated net worth of $8 Million. He competes in American Thoroughbred horse races, becoming the oldest jockey ever to win horse racing’s Triple Crown (riding American Pharoah in 2015).

Hall-of-Famer rider Michael Jones is single and has no children. He has donated 10% of his race winnings to City of Hope, a non-profit clinical research center, hospital, and graduate school that specializes in pediatric cancer care.

Espinoza was involved in a riding accident at Del Mar racetrack on July 18, 2018, which left him with a fractured vertebra and prevented him from walking or using his arm. Prior to this injury, in 2015 he participated in Dancing With The Stars 21st season reality TV dance competition series where he danced alongside professional dancer Karina Smirnoff but was eliminated within its second week of competition.