America’s Best Racing has launched a monthly series to celebrate women in racing, explore the challenges they face in what has been a male-dominated industry, and highlight their achievements.

On air and in life, NBC’s Donna Barton Brothers recognizes that spontaneity is every bit as important as meticulous planning.

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The former jockey’s post-Kentucky Derby interviews on horseback, a staple of the network’s coverage, reflect countless hours of preparation. She is a voracious reader who makes extensive notes on everything involving the 20 starters and their connections. She watches and re-watches replays of the prep races that got them to the first Saturday in May.

And then there can be situations no reporter can prepare for.

Such was the case when Calvin Borel, from humble beginnings in St. Martin Parish, La., won his first Kentucky Derby with Street Sense in 2007. “Bo-rail” was then 40 years old and, just when he began to think he might never smell the roses, he produced a flawless, rail-hugging ride true to his moniker.

As Barton Brothers ranged up to Borel on her pony following his dramatic rally from far back in 19th, she could see he was overcome by emotion. And she blanked. Those questions she prepared? Forgot all of them. What to do?

“Calvin doesn’t know how to be anything but raw emotion. He just is who he is,” Barton Brothers said. “But it was his raw emotion that made me forget every single question I planned to ask.”

After experiencing an interviewer’s worst nightmare, after an instant of panic, she realized how to respond to the emotional meltdown occurring while the world watched.

“I just got drawn into that raw emotion and it was like, ‘Okay, let’s go with that,’” she recalled.

She allowed what-you-see-is-what-you-get Calvin to be Calvin. She gave him the time and space to thank his brother, Cecil, for helping to raise him and for giving him an invaluable education in the ways of horses. “I wish my momma and daddy were here,” said a tearful Calvin, struggling to speak. “This is the most-greatest moment of my life.”

Queen Elizabeth II, part of the massive crowd at Churchill Downs that afternoon, was so taken by Borel that she asked to meet him. She invited him to join her at a planned visit to the White House and off they went, leaving to the imagination how that conversation might have gone.

Once Barton Brothers dismounted and as she returned to the NBC compound from the Borel interview, she worried about something that had not at all gone to plan. Veteran Tom Hammond, who joined Charlsie Canty and Mike Battaglia among her early mentors, reassured her that she had more than met the challenge.

“It was conversational. I felt we were eavesdropping on a conversation that mattered,” Hammond told her. “You may have forgotten your questions, but you stayed in the moment. And that made that moment.”

Barton Brothers interviewing jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. after 2024 Kentucky Derby. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Since then, Barton Brothers’ extensive preparation no longer involves questions she plans to ask. She always knows the direction she is taking.

“My first question is always going to be directed toward their heart because it’s always my goal to keep them in their heart right away before they get into their head,” she said. “My first question will never be, ‘Tell me, how was your trip? Isn’t this horse great?’ It’s always going to be directed to what I think might be in their heart.”

Once the most exciting two minutes in sports are over, viewers eagerly wait to hear from the winning jockey for at least a couple of minutes, courtesy of Barton Brothers. So do her fellow broadcasters.

“She gets personal with the interview and kind of brings it all together,” said reporter Kenny Rice. “It’s not just, ‘Your horse won the race. How did he do it?’ She set the standard for everybody else who does this now.”

The horsemanship part comes easily for Barton Brothers. Her mother, Patti, was one of the first women to be licensed as a jockey in the United States. While Barton Brothers galloped horses for four years, she never imagined following her mother’s trailblazing path.

Until she did.

“I rode my first race to eliminate it as a career choice,” Barton Brothers said. “I just didn’t expect to love it. I thought, ‘I’ll ride this race and see that it’s not for me.’ I rode that race and saw that it was definitely for me. There was no turning back.”

She competed from 1987 until 1998, winning 1,130 races with purse earnings of $18,658,028. Then the passion left her as quickly as it came. She started in broadcasting, impressing those around her with her will to succeed.

Barton Brothers at the 2012 Kentucky Derby. (Eclipse Sportswire)

“She came in wanting to learn about television, wanting to learn about interviews, wanting to learn about everything she could,” Rice said. “She still does that.”

While Barton Brothers was working at Churchill Downs, she did not know that NBC had come there searching for on-air talent. Her first appearance for the network occurred during the 2000 Breeders’ Cup World Championships. She gradually expanded to work the World Equestrian Games, Grand Prix Dressage, Grand Prix Show Jumping and professional bull riding, among other events.

Barton Brothers turns 59 on April 20. She has been married to former trainer Frank Brothers since 1998. She is a woman of many interests. She has been an avid skier since she was nine. She hikes. She bikes. She is a certified teacher in Bikram Yoga. She relishes travel and looks forward to her first visit to Royal Ascot in June.

“There is a lot I want to do in life. And if I want to do a lot in this life, I have to fit a lot into every day,” she said, making sure to cherish each moment.