Smitty

I have thoughts.

[FairHillTrainingCenter @FairHillTC]

Hall of Fame trainer Michael Matz back at the gate this morning at Fair Hill.

This game has always been about consistency, hard work, and showing up every day. We are fortunate to be surrounded by extraordinary horsemen and women who continue to raise the standard. 🏇

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@MelissaAmaya32 @aerockrose I do fitness classes in a building that shares a wall with Starbucks. I used to finish class and submit a mobile order I already had teed up. So, I definitely could be there in 3 minutes. But yeah, like you, I waited 10 minutes.

[Matt Braynard @MattBraynard]

We're so back.

An entrepreneur is restoring Pizza Huts to their former glory.

[Horse Racing Women's Association @horseracingwmn]

The Horse Racing Women's Association is honored to celebrate and congratulate the one and only, @DonnaBBrothers on an exceptional 26-year career with @NBCSports! 👏

As the NBC Sports reporter on horseback that we have come to know, love, and learn from, Donna is retiring from this role following the Preakness Stakes on May 16th.

As much as Donna has given to us through this role, we want to take a moment to walk through her inspiring journey in the Thoroughbred industry, which didn't start in front of the camera. Instead, she started her career after high school as an exercise rider for four and a half years before becoming a professional jockey in 1987.

During her very successful career as a jockey, she won 1,171 races and became the second-leading female jockey by money earned—a title she still holds today. Let’s let that sink in and recognize the strength, tenacity, and talent it took to get there!

After retiring from the starting gate, it wasn't long until she found herself back in the saddle, but this time as an on-horseback reporter for NBC Sports. Donna joined the team in 2000 and has spent the last 26 years covering the sport's biggest races nationwide. We are grateful to her for bridging those thrilling moments, seconds after the races as we heard from the jockeys as they were catching their breath, often speaking through dirt spattered faces and tears, what moments!

When Donna is not officially working, she’s working to strengthen our sport and move it forward as she gives back to our community. She currently serves on the boards of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) and the Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky. Additionally, Donna has given her time at several HRWA events as a speaker, moderator, and co-planner of our Saratoga events.

When we asked Donna to reflect on such a prolific career, she generously shared, "I’ve been blessed to have two amazing careers in a sport that I love," she says. "As women, we tend to self-deprecate and attribute our successes to luck and our failures to our own shortcomings. I’m not going to do that, because it’s not true. “Luck” truly is when preparation meets opportunity, and I’ve never met a successful person who didn’t dedicate an inordinate amount of time to preparation. The key is to love what you do. Then the preparation is part pleasure, part tenacity. The other key is to keep your eye on the ball—visualize where you want to end up and keep that image in your mind, no matter the obstacles. And there will be obstacles. It’s impossible to find a solution when you’re staring at the problem. So see every “problem” for what it is: an obstacle. And then find a path around it."

So many take aways to apply to our own lives as we pursue a dream or challenges in front of us!

Thank you, Donna, for everything you've done and continue to do for our sport and for showing women how to write our own stories, our way! You are legendary, a star of our sport, and an inspiration to us all! ✨️ 🏆️

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@goodreads Getting in trouble for reading with a flashlight at bedtime.

[Smitty @got4hooves]

Horses sleep because they are tired. It’s so weird how the internet romanticizes horses, which are great animals, but …

[Enezator @Enezator]

These horses fall into deep sleep because they finally feel safe and comfortable, a side of horses people rarely witness. Every living soul deserves a peaceful life 🤍

[Jarvis @jarvis_best]

Feeling safe from the hantavirus due to my longstanding policy of never interacting with anyone who would go on a cruise.

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@jrovner Honestly, as someone who owns goats … this checks out.

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@francesjkaron Most newspapers (I can’t speak to this one) sold their on-site printing presses and instead print regionally, which requires stacking a schedule for printing and transporting newsprint to a distribution hub.

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@Bobwade62 @Batenswytch It also happened in a matter of seconds. He had only enough time to think “Oh!” before he was off.

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@bradluttrell The stewards will sometimes request photos showing the devastation as part of their investigations.

[Smitty @got4hooves]

So nice to see @DonnaBBrothers have @TBaftercare on her saddle cloth for the interview at her final KY Derby.

[Barbara D. Livingston @DRFLivingston]

Derby morning is time for photographers to help other photographers focus remote cameras ... by trying to be 'horse-sized.'

Happy Kentucky Derby day, everyone! 🏇🌹🍀

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@HOMAGE @pizzahut Obviously

[Andrew T. Walker @AndrewTWalker]

I am calling for millennials to be grandfathered back into this program. BOOK IT was the best thing in my elementary education.

What do we need to do to qualify? Read classics of American literature? I’ll read whatever is necessary to score that personal pan pizza.

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@pizzahut @people I swear if you offered this for adults that all of us would buy additional products when redeeming the certificates.

[Weijia Jiang @weijia]

The Hilton donated the ~2600 dinners that went unserved at WHCD. They freeze dried the steak and lobster for longer shelf life before giving them to 2 shelters for abused women and children. HUGE thank you to the staff that worked through the night under terrible circumstances.

[NYRA (🗽) @TheNYRA]

Checking in with the GOAT and his goat after yesterday’s G2 Oaklawn Handicap win.

[Smitty @got4hooves]

@gymnastgrace @LA28 @axs @eventim_usa @si_tickets_ @Ticketmaster None of it makes sense. The Paris games ONLY allowed reselling on the standard ticket app and only at face value. Why should this games be any different?