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DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza is wearing a neck brace while recovering at his San Diego home after fracturing a vertebra during a training accident at Del Mar.
Agent Brian Beach says on Twitter that the 46-year-old rider spent 11 days in the hospital and at a rehabilitation facility.
Espinoza says he initially thought he might be paralyzed after the July 22 fall at the track north of San Diego. He told ABC affiliate KGTV in San Diego that his body was numb and he could only move his right arm.
The jockey says the first time he cried was when he first started moving his right leg and by the time he got to the hospital he started moving his other leg.
Espinoza says his left arm is still numb. He will be in the neck brace for six weeks and hopes to make a full recovery.
He was exercising Bobby Abu Dhabi during morning workouts when the horse had an apparent heart attack and threw Espinoza off. Bobby Abu Dhabi died.
Espinoza rode American Pharoah to a sweep of the Triple Crown in 2015.
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