Tom O’Brien, the Cheltenham Festival-winning jump jockey who went on to become a steward with the British Horseracing Authority, has died at the age of 39 after a long battle with cancer. The news was confirmed on 11 November, and tributes have come from across British and Irish racing.
O’Brien is survived by his wife, Hayley, and their two young sons, Archie and Toby.
A career built on hard work
O’Brien made his name early. He won the champion amateur and champion conditional jockey titles in the first part of his career and rode more than 100 winners in the 2006/07 season, a breakthrough campaign that marked him out as one of the brightest young riders in the weighing room.
His first Grade 1 win came on Souffleur for trainer Peter Bowen in the Challow Novices’ Hurdle in 2007. He would go on to ride five Grade 1 winners in all, as well as two winners at the Cheltenham Festival, the meeting every jumps jockey measures themselves against.
For many racing fans, though, the ride they remember is Dream Alliance in the 2009 Welsh Grand National at Chepstow. The horse had been bred and owned by a syndicate of villagers from the South Wales valleys, and his victory became one of the great feel-good stories in British racing. It was later turned into the feature film Dream Horse.
Partnership with Philip Hobbs
The longest chapter of O’Brien’s riding career was spent with Philip Hobbs. For years he was the stable’s second jockey behind Richard Johnson, one of the most successful riders the sport has seen, and he became first jockey when Johnson retired.
That role brought some of the biggest days of his career. He won the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree on Thyme Hill in 2021 and partnered the same horse to success in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton in 2022. In 2021 he also joined the small group of jockeys to have ridden more than 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland.
Hobbs, who now trains in partnership with Johnson White, said the news was very sad above all for O’Brien’s wife and children, and White paid tribute to a hard-working family man. Richard Johnson, who shared the Hobbs rides with him for many years, was among the former weighing-room colleagues to remember a loyal friend and a gifted horseman.
A second career as a BHA steward
O’Brien retired from the saddle in April 2023 and moved straight into officiating, joining the BHA’s team of stewards. The regulator said colleagues valued his race-reading and his judgement, both shaped by years of riding in the same races he was now overseeing. That second career was cut short by his illness.
BHA chief executive Brant Dunshea said the regulator and the wider racing community were mourning the loss of “a brilliant jockey, a valued colleague, a loyal friend”. He added that O’Brien would be remembered above all as a loving husband and father, and that the many riders who had supported him during his illness would feel his loss deeply. The BHA said it would make sure support is available to anyone in the sport who needs it.
The full statement has been published by the British Horseracing Authority, and Sky Sports has gathered further tributes from trainers and riders.
Remembered across the weighing room
O’Brien’s death was announced only a day after British racing launched its new five-year horse welfare strategy at Westminster. The focus this week, though, is on a rider who earned respect both in the saddle and in the stewards’ room, and on the young family he leaves behind.
Everyone at BritishGambler sends our condolences to Hayley, Archie, Toby and all of Tom O’Brien’s family, friends and colleagues. More racing stories are available in our latest news.
