If the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) goes anything like last week’s Kentucky Derby (G1) for Donna Brothers, a flood of emotions will hit her after she completes Saturday’s assignment for an NBC audience.
But not before.
“I won’t let it,” Brothers said.
After 26 years, the Preakness will mark Brothers’ final working assignment as the network’s on-track broadcaster. Microphone in one hand and a horse’s reins in the other, Brothers will interview the winning Preakness jockey just after the finish and then call it a career.
“Whoever wins the Preakness Stakes, I will make sure this is their moment, that they feel seen, and they feel heard and they have the chance to express whatever it is they’re feeling at that time,” Brothers said. “It will not be about me, or I have failed to do my job.”
But after that, once the cameras have turned elsewhere?
“Will I feel differently when I get off the horse? Maybe,” she said. “When I got off the horse after the Kentucky Derby, I literally broke down in tears. And that could happen after the Preakness. But not while I’m on air.”
Before her marriage to former trainer Frank Brothers, Donna Barton enjoyed a successful career as a jockey, winning 1,130 races before retiring from competition in 1998. She began working for NBC in 2000 as an on-track broadcaster for the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup races.
But now she said she’s ready to hand over her reins and spend more time at home, spending time outside and entertaining.
“There’s no perfect time,” she said. “But I’m looking forward to not sitting in front of the computer for five to six hours a day. I’m looking forward to spending more time outside, and more time with my husband and family. I feel like for the last 26 years – or longer – I’ve rarely had time for that.”
She said she and her husband recently saw the Michael Jackson biopic that is out in theaters, and it dawned on her that she never had a chance to see the late performer when he was at his peak.
“I sat there at the movie thinking, ‘Why didn’t I ever go see Michael Jackson in concert?’ And then I realized it was because he was at the peak of his career when I was a jockey,” she said. “I was so myopic in my career that Michael Jackson’s incredible career was just like something in my peripheral vision. I hardly noticed it.”
Despite the Preakness being her final assignment, Brothers said there is no doubt in her mind she won’t allow the moment to interfere with her work.
“I’ve spent years blocking that out,” she said. “When American Pharoah crossed the finish line at Belmont Stakes [in 2015 to complete a sweep of the Triple Crown], I had a fleeting second of a well of emotions that came up to my throat, and I went ‘No, not the time. Not the place.’ And so I’ve had to do that many times.”
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on May 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
