Best seat at the track: How NBC's Donna Barton Brothers prepares for the Kentucky Derby
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Of the 150,000 or so spectators who attend the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at historic Churchill Downs Racetrack, no one will have a better seat for the oldest continuously held major sporting event in the United States than Louisville's Donna Barton Brothers.
Riding horseback — with a microphone in hand — Brothers is that NBC Sports horse racing correspondent. She's the person the world watches as she interviews the Kentucky Derby's winning jockey, who in most cases is still trying to catch his breath at the finish.
There is no seat closer to the thunderous action on Kentucky Derby Day and no one more deserving of the enviable assignment than this former jockey turned sports reporter.
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"Donna gives everything she does 110%," said Annie Locke, Brother's long-time friend. "In 20 years of friendship, I have never seen her give anything less."
Brothers and Locke met at an outdoor bootcamp Locke was leading at EP Tom Sawyer Park. She said Brothers' down-to-earth nature makes it easy to forget she's a widely respected and globally known sports correspondent.
"We've been friends for so long that I forget she's famous," Locke said. "People get really excited when they recognize her."
How Donna Barton Brothers prepares for her post-Derby interviews
With her microphone in one hand and her horse's reigns in the other, Brothers is most recognized for her interviews for NBC Sports at the finish of "the most exciting two minutes in sports." In reality, her assignments are more extensive than a single race.
She rides up and pops off questions to the winning jockey at the conclusion of the Kentucky Oaks, each of the Triple Crown Races, The Breeders' Cup and the undercard races held throughout each day of racing. This means she possesses a catalog of knowledge that encompasses dozens (and dozens) of horses and their riders.
"I do a lot of homework leading up to race day because there is so much to learn about every horse and every rider," she said. "I never want to be under-prepared and so before every show I have to remind myself I know 90% more than 99% of our viewers."
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Long before Churchill Downs' gates open and fans begin flooding through them on Derby weekend, Brothers will have put in hundreds of hours of research.
"I never want to be in a situation where I interview a rider after the race and he says something like 'this is a major accomplishment for this horse after what he went through as a yearly,' but I wouldn't know what he's talking about," Brothers told the Courier Journal. "I need to be so well prepared that I can continue the story no matter what comes out of a jockey's mouth."
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A former jockey, Brothers retired in 1998 as the second leading female jockey in the United States by money earned. She told the Courier Journal she wasn't keen to step completely away from the track at the end of her racing career so instead, she swapped her riding crop for a microphone and her jockey silks for a designer wardrobe.
"My role for NBC Sports focuses on the horses and the jockeys," Brothers said. "My depth of knowledge is on those two areas where the other people doing the coverage, like Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey, are racing analysts. We are a well-oiled machine and each of us shows up on race day with a wealth of knowledge in our strength areas."
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A cherished moment during a finish-line interview nearly didn't happen. Brothers had ridden over to talk with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith immediately after he won the Triple Crown onboard Justify in 2018 at the Belmont Stakes.
"NBC was telling me to wrap up the interview but I had one more question and I wasn't going to let it go," Brothers said. "I asked Mike about a past comment where he said he felt like maybe he was too young and didn't deserve to have been elected into the Hall of Fame."
With NBC and the world waiting for a repsonse, Brothers remembers Smith hesitated before answering.
"I could tell that he was getting choked up as he started to speak," Brothers said. "He said 'yeah, now I do feel like I belong there.' It was a really special moment and afterward, the NBC producer was glad that I had ignored the cue to end the interview."
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At the 148th Kentucky Derby, Rich Strike the second biggest longshot to win the first leg of the Triple Crown was a last minute add to the field of the 148th Kentucky Derby. His 80-1 odds might have been easy for someone else to brush off but Brothers hurried up to the jockey's room to get as much information as possible from jockey Sonny Leon who would later in the day ride Rich Strike to a stunning upset.
"Rich Strike became a little cantankerous, to say the least, after the race and we weren't able to do our usual interview," she said. "But I would have been ready."
'She's incredibly honest, very approachable, and incredibly reliable'
Stories like these, and her knowledge of thoroughbred racing, make Brothers a popular speaker and celebrity guest rolling into the Kentucky Derby season. But her charitable work doesn't end when race season wraps. Brothers is a year-round supporter of various charitable events and local organizations to which she feels a connection.
She gives her time to organizations such as the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs, several equestrian-focused agencies such as the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, plus the Boys & Girls Haven, Maryhurst and Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky.
"My mother was a jockey but in 1984 had a career-ending spill in a riding accident where she had brain damage," Brothers said. "My mom is fine now, but she's not the same person who raised me. The injury totally changed her."
Brothers joined Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky in order to help raise awareness and support for people with brain injuries throughout Kentucky. On Saturday, May 13, BIAK will hold a run and walk event at EP Tom Sawyer Park, 3000 Freys Hill Road, and Brothers is leading the charge to make it a success.
She said the family-friendly event includes options to enter as an individual or as a group and registration for the event is available at biak.us.
Locke, who is helping her longtime friend organize the event, said Brothers' passion for perfection is the same whether it's promoting a charitable event or congratulating the winner of the Kentucky Derby.
"Donna is one-of-a-kind," Locke said. "She's incredibly honest, very approachable and incredibly reliable."
And let's not forget, Brothers has also earned the best seat at the Ketnucky Derby, which is saying a lot.
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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Donna Barton Brothers has the best seat at Churchill Downs
