Donna Brothers’ pre-race interview with Cherie DeVaux proved fortuitous in her final Kentucky Derby
It was fitting that Donna Brothers’ final Kentucky Derby for NBC ended the way it did. Brothers was covering her 26th and final Derby on Saturday before retiring after the Preakness Stakes next month. She’s been the backbone of NBC’s on-track horse racing coverage since the network took over the event’s rights in 2001, the…
Credit: NBC It was fitting that Donna Brothers’ final Kentucky Derby for NBC ended the way it did. Brothers was covering her 26th and final Derby on Saturday before retiring after the Preakness Stakes next month. She’s been the backbone of NBC’s on-track horse racing coverage since the network took over the event’s rights in 2001, the only member of the broadcast crew to have worked every single Derby since.
Before Saturday’s race, she had the walkover with trainer Cherie DeVaux, whose horse Golden Tempo would go on to win the 152nd Kentucky Derby, and in doing so, make DeVaux the first female trainer in history to win the race. The exchange between Brothers and DeVaux before the race was something out of a movie. “It is an honor that you get to do your last walkover with me,” DeVaux told Brothers.
Brothers turned it right back around. “I’m hoping you become the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby,” she said. Today was Donna Brothers’ final time covering the Kentucky Derby for NBC.
Before the race, Cherie DeVaux said “it is an honor that you get to do your last walkover with me. ” Brothers told DeVaux, “I’m hoping you become the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. ” pic.