Donna Brothers

In celebration of the final Belmont Stakes to be contested at Saratoga Racecourse, the Embrace the Belmont III will be held in at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday, June 2. The event will feature cocktails, light bites in addition to handicappers Seth Merrow, Capitol OTB, Sara Elbadwi, NYRA on-air handicapper and Matthew Desantis, Handicapper and content producer for NYRA Bets. This year, Embrace the Belmont III supports both Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga and Saratoga Hospital Foundation. Fashion partners include Frivolous, Mark Thomas Apparel, Miss Scarlett and Gilded....

So that's now 41 straight runnings of the GI Kentucky Derby in which the horse breaking from the one post has lost. Take nothing away from Golden Tempo (Curlin), who ran the race of his life for rising star trainer Cherie DeVaux and was a deserving winner after breaking from post 16. He beat Renegade (Into Mischief), who was saddled with the one post. But had the post positions been reversed, would Renegade have won? It's a fair question. Renegade was roughed up at the start, bumping repeatedly with other...

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will return to Saratoga during the first week of August to highlight accredited aftercare through a variety of initiatives at both Saratoga Race Course and Fasig-Tipton, the TAA announced Thursday. The organization will participate in events during Whitney weekend, which includes the GI Whitney Stakes, and will remain active through the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Sale the following week. The New York Racing Association will feature Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance as its Community Partner during Whitney weekend and TAA will also be present at NYRA's Community Outreach Booth on...

Florence, KY--"Okay, I'm coming!" said Kaitlin Free. Bursting into a small room sandwiched between the announcer's booth and Free's broadcast studio at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, the Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) analyst was only halfway through applying her mascara and eyeliner, but that wasn't going to stop her from watching Flood Zone (Frosted) take the GII Gotham Stakes. With half her face on and the other 'au naturel,' Free's eyes were glued to the screen as she watched intently, offered an assessment as the field blazed for the far...

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance elected new officers and five new directors at its meeting on Dec. 16. Beginning January 1, 2025, Walter S. Robertson, Jr. will assume the role as President of Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. Robertson, a member of the law firm Stites & Harbison, PLLC, has been involved with Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance since 2018. Robertson's legal practice focuses on equine law, commercial finance, corporate finance and securities, corporate general services, and mergers and acquisitions. In addition to his legal career, he has experience in multiple breeds of the equine industry...

The Horse Racing Women's Summit (HRWS) hosted their second event of the year with panels and networking opportunities taking place at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Tuesday, July 23 in Saratoga Springs, New York, the organization said in a Wednesday release. "To be clear, this is not an event where women get together to discuss female challenges," said Shona Rotondo, Chair of the HRWS Marketing & Communications Committee. "It's an event that brings together intelligent and successful industry professionals to discuss the challenges of our...

The Backside Learning Center will host its third annual Derby Handicapping Social at the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Apr. 16 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The event features a Kentucky Derby 150 handicapping seminar with a panel of the industry's top experts: FanDuelTV's Caton Bredar, Churchill Downs' Joe Kristufek, and FanDuelTV's Gabby Gaudet, with NBC's Donna Barton Brothers moderating. In addition to handicapping, the event serves as a social hour to mingle with owners, trainers and connected leaders in the Thoroughbred industry and also includes a bourbon raffle with complimentary hors d'oeurves and...

As 2023 draws to a close, the TDN is asking industry members to name their favorite moment of the year. Send yours to suefinley@thetdn.com "The Breeders' Cup. Going in, so many races looked ultra-competitive, and the results bore out with exciting stretch runs and thrilling finishes. When I'm on horseback, I don't get to see the stretch run, so all I have is Larry Collmus's race call, which, in so many of the races, had me guessing about who the winner would be until they literally hit the wire. In...

NBC Sports will feature 7 1/2 hours of coverage for the 149th GI Kentucky Derby, both on NBC and the NBC-owned Peacock Network on Saturday. Coverage begins at noon EDT. Additionally, Peacock and the USA Network will offer live coverage of Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Over the two days, NBC Sports will present 15 live races from Churchill Downs and for the first time, Telemundo Deportes will present coverage of the Derby, beginning Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET on Universo, and streaming on TelemundoDeportes.com and...

Frank Brothers will retire from his roles as a bloodstock agent and a member of Keeneland's yearling inspection team, he announced Friday morning in a press release. "I'm fortunate that my health is good," he said. "I'm 76 years old and quite content to take a seat in the viewing area and watch the game for a while." After training horses from 1980 to 2009, Brothers moved into his current role of selecting horses for a few clients before ultimately partnering with Starlight and StarLadies Racing for the past 13...

As part of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA)'s month-long Holiday Giving Campaign, Donna Brothers has pledged to match all donations up to $2,500 made to the TAA on Dec. 9. "At the end of the day, our industry will be judged by how well we take care of our athletes," said former jockey, author, and reporter for NBC Sports, Donna Brothers. "Not only while they are racing and 'useful' to us, but especially when they are most vulnerable: at the end of their racing careers. Many of these horses make...

Beginning in 1980, Frank Brothers trained Thoroughbreds for nearly 30 years. During that time, he amassed a career win percentage of just over 23%, with 2,291 races to his credit, including 262 stakes victors of which 50 were graded. Chief among them was Hansel (Woodman), a multiple Grade I winner of the Preakness S. and Belmont S., who was the 1991 three-year-old Champion. Others in his barn included Grade I winners like Secret Hello (Private Account), Arch (Kris S.), Oath (Known Fact), Madcap Escapade (Hennessy), First Samurai (Giant's Causeway), and...