A fixture of NBC’s horse racing coverage will be calling it a career after this year’s Triple Crown.
NBC Sports’ on-track horse racing reporter Donna Brothers will retire following the Preakness Stakes next month, making this Saturday’s Kentucky Derby her 26th and final, according to a report by Richard Deitsch in Sports Business Journal.
Most will know Brothers from her iconic interviews on horseback with winning jockeys immediately following the completion of a race. Deitsch notes that it was Brothers who interviewed Triple Crown-winning jockeys Victor Espinoza (American Pharoah) and Mike Smith (Justify) following the Belmont Stakes in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Brothers is the only member of NBC’s Kentucky Derby crew to have worked every single Derby since the network gained rights to the event in 2001.
“It’s been 26 years and it has been such a fun ride,” Brothers told Sports Business Journal. “I’m really grateful for every bit of it.”
In addition to working the Triple Crown, Brothers has covered Breeders’ Cup World Championships and the World Equestrian Games for NBC Sports.
“When I started covering horse racing for NBC Sports, I had just stopped riding three years prior. I retired from professional riding in 1998, then started working for NBC in 2000. I don’t want to be there so long that all the jockeys on the racetrack never rode with me and didn’t know me as a jockey. I think it’s just time to pass the baton,” she said of her decision to retire after the Preakness.
Brothers’ role on the Derby is perhaps the most important on-air position aside from that of Larry Collmus, the longtime race caller for NBC’s Triple Crown coverage. The post-race horseback interview is a staple of any major horse racing event, and is a moment that often creates lasting memories for viewers who are eager to hear from the winning jockey. With NBC locked into a rights deal for the Kentucky Derby through 2032, the network should have ample opportunity to develop another on-track reporter to fill Brothers’ stirrups, perhaps for another 26 years.
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