Legendary jockey Victor Espinoza is out of his neck brace, and well on the road to recovery after nearly dying in a gruesome fall off a horse during training this summer ... TMZ Sports has learned.
We broke the story ... the Hall of Famer was severely injured after a horse he was riding went into cardiac arrest on the track on July 22 in Del Mar, California.
The horse's owner -- Brian Trump -- tells us Victor nearly lost his life in the fall when a bone chipped off his neck and just missed cutting an artery.