Celeb Shot: Donna Brothers
How a farm girl from New Mexico became a pillar of American horse racing. Plus: a new type of Wordle, the Saratoga attraction that's now FREE, and an early-morning scene from the opening day line.
I planned to talk to Donna Brothers mainly about horses. A former jockey and current NBC horse racing reporter, Donna wrote the book on horse racing…Literally—she’s the author of Inside Track: Insider’s Guide to Horse Racing. Chances are, you’ve seen her on TV riding next to the winning jockeys at the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup races. And she won’t just be at the Horse Racing Women’s Summit that’s coming to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on July 23—she’s hosting the keynote conversation with Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority CEO Lisa Lazarus. So when I asked Donna what her earliest memory was, I expected some sort of horse-related origin story. That’s not what I got.
“I was a year-and-a-half old, and we were living in this shed of a house in New Mexico. My brother was crying in the crib, and I was sitting there crying because I couldn't help him. And I was thinking, where's Leah?”
Donna’s sister, Leah, would have been three or four at the time and, looking back, Donna realizes that a normal kid would be asking, “Where’s Mom or Dad?”
“One of the reasons why my brother and sister and I are so close is that we were there for each other more than our parents were able to be there for us,” she says. “They both worked really hard and weren’t as hands-on as they would’ve probably liked to have been, had they had the means.”
After her parents split up, Donna and her siblings were cared for by several different adults and shuffled from house to house in their native New Mexico. Four years later, when Donna was six, the kids were reunited with their mother, who was back on her feet and had become the leading rider at a track in West Virginia. Despite all the moving around (even after moving back in with Mom, Donna attended seven different schools in four different states) there was one constant in Donna’s life.
“I don't have a memory of a life without horses,” she says. “We’ve just always had horses. My mother definitely rode when she was pregnant with all three of us. We lived on a 200-acre farm in Pennsylvania for four years. We’d have a three-foot snow drift, and the water would be frozen in the barn, so we’d have to carry 10-gallon buckets to water the horses before we went to school. So I didn't grow up with a romantic notion about horses like a lot of little girls did.”
(For the record, that was the origin story I was looking for.)
While horses were omnipresent in Donna’s childhood, even when she wasn’t living with her parents, she didn’t expect them to be a part of her adult life. Obviously, as I learned when we sat down at Saratoga Tea & Honey two days before Saratoga Race Course opened for the season, the equine gods had other plans.
SLAH: When you were growing up, your mom, Patti Barton, was the leading female rider in the nation by number of wins. Did you have any plans to follow in her footsteps?
DB: I never wanted to be a jockey. When my mother tells the story, she says, “I had three kids, and one of 'em had no interest in horses or horse racing.” And that would be me. It wasn't so much that I had no interest, it's just that we always had horses. I took them for granted.
SLAH: What’d you do after graduating from high school?
DB: I was not at all prepared to go to college, even though I had thought I would go to college. I went to work at a track in Kentucky as a groom, because even though I’d ridden my whole life, I wasn’t skilled enough to be an exercise rider. So I was like, I’ll just be a groom, and I’ll save my money and go to college.
SLAH: How’d that work out?
DB: I made $136 a week. There was no money to save—I barely had money to eat. So I was like, OK, I have to become an exercise rider ’cause then I can make more money and then I can go to college. So I go out to Jack Van Berg’s farm in Goshen, Kentucky and learn to become an exercise rider. It was fun going from track to track. I had a car and a skill that let me go to any place in the United States that had a racetrack.
SLAH: How’d you transition to being a jockey?
DB: There was an agent who’d been trying to get me to become a jockey for a while because I was naturally small and I was a good hand on a horse. I told him, OK, I’ll ride a race. I didn’t tell him it was because I wanted to eliminate jockey as a career choice.
So I rode that first race and I got off that horse and I was like, oh my god—not only is that the most exciting thing I’ve ever done, it’s the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. When your mom, your brother and your sister are all jockeys, you’re like, how hard can it be? I’d watched, like, 10,000 races by that time. It just never crossed my mind that it would be that hard.
SLAH: What did your mom have to say about your new career trajectory?
DB: She came to visit me a couple of months later. I said to her, “Mom, when we were growing up, you always said that you didn’t have any desire for us to be jockeys, but I can tell that now that I’m a jockey, you’re pretty excited about it.” And she said, “I’m excited to see you passionate about something, and so I’m excited for you. But I wouldn’t have cared if it was because you had become a vet or you were a cocktail waitress at the best restaurant you’d ever worked at. I just like to see you passionate.”
SLAH: After you retired, you transitioned into paddock commentary, and were eventually recruited to NBC. Do you remember anything about your early days as a horse racing reporter?
DB: The 2000 Breeders’ Cup was at Churchill Downs, and that was really my first show. And NBC had no idea, apparently, how green I was. All I’d done was paddock commentary—I didn’t interview people, and the interviews that I had done were not network-worthy. So I do that first show, and at the time, Blood-Horse Magazine used to critique every single television broadcast. I was pretty excited about The Blood-Horse coming, because I couldn’t wait to read my glowing review. I start reading the article—Lenny Shulman wrote it—and he said “I have no idea why NBC continues to persist with these fluff interviews from horseback after the race.”
SLAH: How’d you take that?
DB: I’d been a jockey for many years, so I was used to criticism and I was used to deciding whether or not the criticism had any merit. So I went back and watched the replay, and I realized that I didn’t ask one question of any jockey that won any of those races that I couldn’t have asked any other jockey on the card. They were fluff interviews. And I was like, OK, nobody taught me how to do better, but I have to do better than that. So it really helped me. That’s not to say I was immediately grateful to Lenny Shulman, but it definitely made me better.
SLAH: What do you do differently now?
DB: No matter who wins the Kentucky Derby, it’s going to be a momentous occasion for them. But it’s going to be something slightly different for anybody who wins it. My biggest fear is that if, after the race, the rider says to me, “It’s especially remarkable that the horse was able to do this, considering everything he went through as a yearling,” and I have no idea what he went through as a yearling. So I need to make sure that I’m intimately familiar with that jockey’s connection to this horse, or that jockey’s place in his or her career right now. Are they on their way up, or are they thinking about retirement? Are they nominated for the Hall of Fame? Are they in the Hall of Fame? Is it their first Kentucky Derby win?
SLAH: How is covering horse racing different from reporting on a sport like football?
DB: When my colleagues at NBC Sports are covering the Super Bowl, they know both teams two weeks in advance. They’ve been covering them all season long. For the Kentucky Derby, we watch all the pre-races and do everything we can, but you don’t even know for sure who the jockey is going to be until a few days before the race.
And there are so many races! Even on Kentucky Derby Day, most people don’t realize that this is the fifth race in a row that I’ve been on horseback for and that I also prepared for those other races. One of the things I had to finally come to terms with is that I’m never going to be 100 percent prepared. But I do know that by the time we go on air, I know more than 99.9 percent of the people in the world.
SLAH: Will we see you out on the track doing interviews at Saratoga?
DB: No. Any of the races NBC does that aren’t the Triple Crown races or the Breeders’ Cup are done remotely, so it’s reduced the number of races that I cover for NBC. But unfortunately, it hasn’t reduced the amount of work I do, because it’s not the kind of sport that you can catch up on if you don’t keep up with it. So I still spend five, six hours a day on the computer following horse racing.
SLAH: Do you have any predictions for the 2024 Saratoga season?
DB: The 3-year-old division is up for grabs right now. We’ve had three different winners of each of the Triple Crown races, and the favorite for the Travers might end up being a horse who didn’t win any of those three, because it will probably come down to if Sierra Leone and Forte are healthy.
But I have never seen so much excitement around Saratoga. Having the Belmont Stakes here really ignited the passions of people all over the United States to come to Saratoga. There were a lot of people who were super excited about the Belmont being at Saratoga who didn’t come but made the decision to come to Saratoga this summer because they want to be here. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a record summer.
SLAH: What do you think the future of horse racing will look like?
DB: Horse racing is always going to happen. Whether or not we get paid to do it is a whole other subject. We have to be keenly aware that we could easily lose our social license to operate. So, more than anything else, I see myself as an unpaid ambassador for horse racing.
Any time I can represent horse racing in a positive way and align with a charity, I do that. It’s important that people outside of horse racing understand that we do everything we can to keep horses safe. Horses are what our nation was built on the backs of. We wouldn’t be where we are without them. But if we don’t continue to use them as sporting animals—whether that’s racing or jumping or dressage or whatever it is—they’ll disappear from the planet. Because they are very expensive lawn ornaments.
SLAH: Your primary residence is in Louisville. How’d you wind up spending so much time in Saratoga?
DB: We always rented a house here, but we were too cheap to rent one all summer. So we were like, why don’t we just buy a house? A lot of people might think we’re here for the track. But we love Saratoga Springs so much that we would probably live here even if we weren’t involved with horse racing at all. It’s just such a great town.
—Natalie
Horse Play
If you think daily New York Times word game Wordle is a little too difficult, or if you’re as horse-obsessed as the rest of Saratoga, there’s a new game for you. It’s called Horsle, and it’s exactly the same as Wordle, except—and I’m letting you in on a hint here—the answer is always horse. If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself. (And yes, I guessed koala in honor of Saratoga’s own Wordle-playing koalas.)
Three Cheers
In search of your next favorite summertime beer? It may just be Northway Brewing’s new Superfecta Summer Ale, a collaboration between the Queensbury brewery and the New York Racing Association that’s available exclusively at the track. Brewed with all beer-drinkers in mind—not just ones who like craft beer—the Superfecta Summer Ale is billed as light with a subtle fruitiness and crisp, clean finish. The label features a QR code that links to NYRA Bets, where new members get a sign-up bonus of up to $200.
Or maybe your track season drink of choice will be Druthers’ new brew, HorsePlay, a blonde ale brewed with peach tea from The Whistling Kettle. Every purchase of the beer will help support Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga, which provides equine-assisted therapy programs for individuals dealing with mental health challenges. Featuring label artwork by Saratoga artist Frankie Flores, HorsePlay is available at all Druthers locations, the track and other vendors around the Capital Region.
If you’d rather sip your suds to the tune of classical music, Whitman Brewing’s Rhythm Seeker is for you. Brewed in collaboration with SPAC, the west coast IPA carries notes of candied pineapple and lychee and finishes dank and crisp thanks to El Dorado, Strata CGX and Mosaic hops. Get it at SPAC-produced events (today’s ballets, July’s performance by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center or the Philadelphia Orchestra coming later this month) or the Whitman taproom.
Making a Splash
On July 2, Governor Kathy Hochul launched “Get Offline, Get Outside,” a new initiative making swimming pool entry free at New York State Parks. That means, yep, you can now get into the Victoria and Peerless pools—and the rest of the park, for that matter—for free. “We’re making it easier for our young people to put down their phones and computers, enjoy time with friends and family, and stay active all cross our state,” the governor said. “Summer is here—get offline and get outside.”
While the Saratoga Living Insiders Club was thrilled to not have to pay at this past Wednesday’s member meet-up at the Victoria Pool, some Saratogians are less than thrilled. “Very frustrating for those who purchase the Empire Pass year after year specifically to use for the Peerless Pool,” someone commented on the Saratoga Spa State Park’s Facebook post announcing that entry to the park will be free this summer except on concert nights. (Costing $80 per year, the Empire Pass permits unlimited access to most facilities operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is popular among regulars of the Peerless Pool.) “I’ve already reached out to the Empire Pass requesting a refund.”
Award Season
Next time you’re at The Coat Room, take a second to glance up from your dinner or drink (the restaurant just unveiled its new summer menu) to check out the actual room, which just won a major award from the American Institute of Architects of Eastern New York. Architecture firm Phinney Design Group was recognized in the commercial/industrial small project category for the way in which The Coat Room seamlessly blends modern design with historical elements, as well as its sustainable design—something for which PDG has become known.
One-Man Ban
The millennials of Instagram have spoken. Insult Dave Matthews, get banned. While it’s unclear why Two Buttons Deep’s resident Gen Zer, Aaron Madej (aka The Capital Region’s Intern), was suspended from Instagram on the eve of his nasty 19th birthday, he’s suspecting it had a little something to do with a video he posted asking who Dave Matthews is. (I have to admit—I too only know the band in the context of SPAC, so I responded to Aaron’s Reel with a link to some light reading.) “Instagram, you are officially one of my No. 1 ops, and we need to fix this,” he said in a post made to the @twobuttonsdeep account. (Aaron has become the region’s local source for lessons in Gen Z slang; “ops” or “opps” is short for “oppositions” and means enemies.) “I did nothing wrong. Someone just tell me who Dave Matthews is.”
Line Drive
While you’ll have to wait until next week’s Opening Weekend Report to meet the first three guys in the opening day line (and find out what time they got there), we’ll share with you this photo, taken at 6:39am on Thursday, mere minutes before the gates opened and the mad dash for picnic tables commenced. Become a paid subscriber to be sure to get that story and the rest of our track season coverage sent directly to your email—say goodbye to pesky paywalls!
We’ve Got Issues
Speaking of track season coverage, our annual “The Races!” Issue dropped this week. In it, you’ll find our cover story on soon-to-be Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, five horses to keep an eye on at Saratoga, a profile of father-son bugling duo Tony and Carson Gambaro, and much more horse racing–related content. Read the full issue online, or pick up a copy around town this week.