Donna Brothers Biography

Donna Brothers is a former jockey who won over 1,100 horse races and now covers horse racing and other equestrian sports for NBC Sports and NBCSN. 

Brothers is probably most recognizable for her interviews with the winning jockeys from horseback after the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup races. Brothers is one of the most decorated female jockeys of her time, retiring in 1998 with 1,130 career wins and still ranks second on the money list.

Donna Brothers Career

Brothers joined NBC Sports in 2000 for the network’s broadcast of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and have been part of NBC’s Eclipse Award-winning broadcast team since. In addition to the Preakness Stakes, Kentucky Derby, and Belmont Stakes, Brothers have covered the Hambletonian Stakes, the World Equestrian Games, the Rolex Three Day Event, the AQHA World Championship Show, and Professional Bull Riding for NBC Sports.

Later on in the year 2018, she received the Jim McKay Award for Excellence in Broadcasting, an award received from her peers, both in television and journalism. In 2014, the Sports Illustrated Media Awards recognized Donna Brothers as the best sideline reporter. They wrote: “Brothers plies her trade not on the sidelines but on a saddle, as NBC’s on-track reporter for horse racing.

Year after year, she does excellent work, interviewing jockeys before and after Triple Crown races, always with an eye toward providing information for viewers…Always smart and prepared with her questions, she’s a huge part of a consistently excellent NBC production.” Brothers retired in 1998 with more than 1,000 career wins and ranks second on the money list behind Julie Krone.

She began her professional career as a jockey in 1987 at age 21. Throughout her esteemed career, she was one of D. Wayne Lukas’ first call jockeys in the 1990s and rode numerous stakes winners for the trainer, including Hennessy, Boston Harbor, Serena’s Song, Golden Attraction, and Country Cat.

She finished second on Hennessy in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 1995 at Belmont Park and won stakes on both Golden Attraction and Country Cat. Brothers rode Serena’s Song to a second-place finish in the last race of the filly’s distinguished career, at the time making Serena’s Song the leading money-earner of all time among female thoroughbreds.

In 1998, she began her broadcast career working as an in-house interviewer for the Fairgrounds in New Orleans. In the spring of 1999, Donna Brothers joined Mike Battaglia as a racing analyst for Churchill Downs’ “Paddock Preview” show. Brothers have also done on-location work for TVG, the horseracing network.

Brothers serve on the executive boards of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation. She is a former board member of the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs and still serves on their fundraising committees. Brothers are on the advisory boards of the University of Kentucky Jockey & Equestrian Initiative (which studies, among other things, concussion protocol) and Boys & Girls Haven of Louisville, KY.

Donna Brothers Age

Brothers are 55 years old as of 2021. She was born Donna Barton Brothers on April 20, 1966, in Alamogordo, New Mexico. She celebrates her birthday on the 20th of April every year.

Donna Brothers Height

Brothers stands at a height of approximately 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m).

Donna Brothers Family

Brothers who hail from a family of riders is the daughter of, Patti Barton, who was one of the first women to be licensed as a jockey in 1969. Throughout her career, Patti was the leading female rider in the nation by a number of wins. She retired in 1984 with just over 1,200 wins.

Both her brother, Jerry, and sister, Leah, were also jockeys but by the time she started riding professionally in 1987 her mother, brother, and sister had all retired from riding.

Donna Brothers Husband

Brothers is married to Frank L. Brothers a former Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. The couple married in 1998 and they reside in Louisville, Kentucky.

Donna Brothers Net Worth

Brothers has an estimated net worth ranging between $1 Million – $5 Million which she has earned through being a Jockey.

Donna Brothers Salary

Brothers earns an annual salary ranging between $40,000 – $ 110,500.

Donna Brothers NBC Sports

Brothers work at NBC Sports where she works alongside other famous NBC Sports anchors, reporters, meteorologists, and sports anchors including;

1. Robbie Earle
2. Andrea Joyce

The table below answers some of the frequently asked questions about Brothers.