{"id":29466,"date":"2026-05-02T19:58:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T19:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=29466"},"modified":"2026-05-02T19:58:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T19:58:32","slug":"kentucky-derby-voice-donna-barton-brothers-retiring-after-26-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=29466","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Derby voice Donna Barton Brothers retiring after 26 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>It\u2019s difficult to think of the Kentucky Derby without longtime trackside commentator Donna Barton Brothers.<\/p>\n<p>The former jockey, who\u2019s been a beloved part of NBC\u2019s Kentucky Derby coverage since the network acquired the rights to the race in 2001, announced she\u2019s retiring after this year\u2019s Run for the Roses on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told Lindsay Schanzer, our producer, that I definitely wanted to make it to Kentucky Derby 151 because that would be my 25th Kentucky Derby,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/horse-racing\/news\/donna-brothers-steps-away-from-nbcs-kentucky-derby-coverage-after-26-races\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:said Brothers,;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;said Brothers,&quot;}\" class=\"link \">said Brothers, <\/a>who turned 60 on April 22.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"lightbox-btn\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"lightbox-expand\"><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Image Lightbox\" class=\"lightbox-overlay\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">Longtime trackside commentator Donna Barton Brothers announced she is retiring after 26 years. Instagram\/Donna Barton Brothers<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBut if I had my druthers, I would also like to make it to Derby 152 because then I\u2019ll be 60 years old and I\u2019ll feel like I\u2019ve earned the right to retire. So now I have two careers behind me. I retired from being a jockey in 1998.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brothers\u2019 heartfelt interviews with the winning jockey just seconds after crossing the finish line helped her to become a fan favorite.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\" \/>\n<p>She decided two years ago that this would be her last year, but did not share the news publicly until last week, according to NBC Sports.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of people, when I tell \u2019em I\u2019m going to retire, they seem sad for me. And they\u2019re like, \u201cOh, I know you\u2019re going to miss it,&#8217;\u201d Brothers said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to be the case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had the second-best seat in the house for 26 years, and I really believe that. I think the best seat in the house is whoever rode the Kentucky Derby winner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brothers joined NBC in 2000 for Breeders\u2019 Cup coverage.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"NBC commentator Donna Barton Brothers rides down the front stretch before the 88th Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 18, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland. Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"683\" height=\"1023\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2fff69a12c58189a533c56cc13f8ec06.jpeg\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>NBC commentator Donna Barton Brothers rides down the front stretch before the 88th Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 18, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland. Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mike Tirico, who\u2019s anchoring NBC\u2019s Derby coverage with Rebecca Lowe, praised Brothers for her television legacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVery rarely do you get to work in TV with people who define a role in sports television, and Donna has done that,\u201d Tirico said.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe immediate reaction Donna gets race after race, and her observations are such a unique part of what we do in television. And she is one of a kind. Somebody\u00a0will follow her but will not replace her because she\u2019s irreplaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brothers rode from 1987 to 1998, retiring as the second-leading female jockey in the United States by money earned. She currently still holds that title.<\/p>\n<p>She has 1,130 wins and more than $18 million in purse earnings, according to her website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/kentucky-derby-voice-donna-barton-212934953.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s difficult to think of the Kentucky Derby without longtime trackside commentator Donna Barton Brothers. The former jockey, who\u2019s been a beloved part of NBC\u2019s Kentucky Derby coverage since the network acquired the rights to the race in 2001, announced she\u2019s retiring after this year\u2019s Run for the Roses on Saturday. Advertisement \u201cI told Lindsay &#8230; <a title=\"Kentucky Derby voice Donna Barton Brothers retiring after 26 years\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=29466\" aria-label=\"Read more about Kentucky Derby voice Donna Barton Brothers retiring after 26 years\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Kentucky-Derby-voice-Donna-Barton-Brothers-retiring-after-26-years.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29468,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29466\/revisions\/29468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}