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.
That’s exactly what happened. Golden Tempo, ridden by Jose Ortiz, went from dead last to first to win remarkably, with NBC’s overhead replay showing just how extraordinary the effort was. DeVaux made history. And Brothers, who spent 26 years conducting on-horseback interviews with Triple Crown winners and covering some of the most memorable moments in racing, got to be on the track for it on her way out.
DeVaux acknowledged the symmetry of it all, telling Brothers beforehand, “You were one of the first women jockeys to win a Triple Crown race, so women like you made it easier for me. And, by the way, my career started 22 years ago at Churchill, and I’ve always admired and respected you, and it is an honor that you get to do your last walkover with me.”
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