NBC is facing backlash for how it chose to end the broadcast of the 2026 Kentucky Derby on Saturday night. Golden Tempo, an underdog, came from behind to win the 2026 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Donna Brothers was a jockey who became a reporter with NBC in 2001 when the network acquired the Kentucky Derby. Saturday is her last one.

Once again, tens of thousands flocked to Churchill Downs, dressed to the nines, to partake in one of the grandest spectacles in sport and, perhaps, travel back in time.

NBC abruptly cut its 2026 Kentucky Derby coverage to shift to NBA playoffs, causing horse racing fans to miss the garland of roses ceremony.

NBC was dealt a Kentucky Derby blow with the 'irreplaceable' Donna Barton Brothers set to depart after the 2026 iteration of the race, more than two decades after she began

NBC Sports' presentation of Saturday's history-making 152nd Kentucky Derby delivered the most-watched "Run for the Roses" on record with an average of 19.6 million viewers on NBC and Peacock - topping by 11% last year's Derby audience.

It was fitting that Donna Brothers’ final Kentucky Derby for NBC ended the way it did. Brothers was covering her 26th and final Derby on Saturday before retiring after the Preakness Stakes next month.

Brothers is also a former jockey who won 1,130 races during her 11-year career.

The Kentucky Derby is the big one, of course, but Friday night's Kentucky Oaks race is a massive one, too. The Kentucky Oaks, also held at the iconic Churchill Downs, is exclusively for 3-year-old fillies (females) at 1 and 1/8 miles.