Jockey Tom O’Brien dies aged 39 after cancer diagnosis
Tom O’Brien, one of British and Irish jump racing’s most respected riders, has died aged 39 after a long battle with cancer. He retired from race riding in April 2023 after a 20-year career in which he partnered more than 1,000 winners, including five Grade One victories and two wins at the Cheltenham Festival.
O’Brien was closely associated with Philip Hobbs’s stable near Minehead, joining from Ireland before he had ridden in a race and remaining there for most of his career. He spent many years as second jockey to Richard Johnson before becoming the stable’s first rider after Johnson’s retirement. His most significant victories for Hobbs came aboard Thyme Hill in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Aintree in April 2021 and the Kauto Star Novice Chase at Kempton in December 2022.
He also rode Grade One winners Finian’s Oscar and Elixir De Nutz for Colin Tizzard, and won Cheltenham handicaps on Silk Affair in the 2009 Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle and Third Wind in the 2022 Pertemps Final. After leaving the saddle, O’Brien joined the British Horseracing Authority’s stewarding team. Tributes from Hobbs, Johnson and BHA chief executive Brant Dunshea described him as exceptionally talented, reliable, kind and widely admired. He leaves his wife, Hayley, and two young sons.
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