5 Facts About American Pharoah Jockey Victor Espinoza
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- He's out to make history in more ways than one.
Victor Espinoza will be aboard American Pharoah when the colt attempts to win Saturday's Belmont Stakes and in the process become the first horse to win racing's Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.
A highly spiritual man who has become the best jockey in the sport, Espinoza, 43, will be on his record third attempt to win the Triple Crown, having failed with War Emblem in 2002 and California Chrome last year.
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Here are five more facts you may not know about Espinoza:
* He hails from Mexico and is the 11th of 12 children
* He is unmarried and has no children
* He has more than 3,200 wins in 21,000-plus career races, but has never won the Belmont Stakes
* He donates 10 percent of his winnings to the City of Hope, a private, not-for-profit clinical research center, hospital and graduate medical school located in Duarte, California, to support pediatric cancer research
* He has more than $176 million in career earnings