Jockey Espinoza out indefinitely after work spill

DEL MAR, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza suffered a fracture to the C-3 vertebrae and will be sidelined indefinitely, his agent, Brian Beach, reported Sunday.

Espinoza also had some numbness in his left arm, but it is subsiding, Beach said. Beach described that arm injury as similar to a "stinger" suffered by football players.

Espinoza was injured during an accident Sunday morning at Del Mar in which the stakes-winning sprinter Bobby Abu Dhabi perished.

Espinoza was working Bobby Abu Dhabi when the horse dropped suddenly and without warning nearing the end of a drill, apparently from a sudden cardiac event.

Espinoza was placed on a backboard and had his neck immobilized by paramedics. He was transferred to a waiting ambulance and was taken to Scripps La Jolla Hospital. Espinoza will be kept there overnight, Beach said Sunday.

Espinoza can move all four extremities. He has no paralysis, Beach said. But Beach said Espinoza "got lucky" that he wasn't more seriously injured.

Bobby Abu Dhabi, 4, was third in the Grade 2 True North Stakes at Belmont Park in his last start on June 8. He won the Grade 2 Kona Gold earlier this year at Santa Anita and also was second in the Grade 1 Triple Bend. He was trained by Peter Miller.