NBC analyst Donna Brothers to cover her final Kentucky Derby in 2026

When the winning thoroughbred thunders across the finish line at this year’s 152-year-old Kentucky Derby , Donna Brothers, astride her own horse, will be the first person the whom the victorious jockey speaks. Still breathless and buzzing with excitement, the jockey's first interview will be with Brothers as the two ride side-by-side with more than 150,000 fans roaring around them and millions more watching from home. For 26 years, Brothers has been a defining voice of NBC’s coverage of the longest continuously held sporting event in America.

Beyond the Kentucky Derby, she has covered the Preakness Stakes , Belmont Stakes, the Breeders’ Cup , and a globe’s worth of equestrian events that have taken her from Louisville to Geneva, Switzerland. “I feel so lucky to have worked for NBC. I’ve loved this job and have had so many great experiences and opportunities through the years,” Brothers told The Courier Journal.

“Besides horse racing, I’ve covered the World Equestrian Games in Germany and here at the Kentucky Horse Park, the American Quarter Horse Association World Championships in Oklahoma, show jumping in Geneva, plus professional bull riding. ” Before she ever held a microphone, Brothers spent 12 years in the saddle as a jockey. When she retired in 1998, she was the second-leading female rider in the nation by earnings.

Broadcasting came next, an unexpected pivot that required her to stretch beyond her racing roots. More celebrity news: Barnstable-Brown Derby Eve Gala releases star-studded 2026 guest list "I wasn’t an expert in all those different fields, but I researched and learned enough to ask decent questions with some degree of expertise,” she said. “I typically spend five to six hours a day in front of a computer doing research and getting to know everything I can about the event and the athletes I cover.