Grade 1-winning jockey Tom O’Brien dies aged 39

Philip Hobbs has paid tribute to the retired rider, whose career included two Cheltenham Festival victories and Welsh Grand National success aboard Dream Alliance.

Tom O’Brien, the former jump jockey who rode more than 1,000 winners and enjoyed five Grade 1 successes, has died aged 39 following cancer.

The Wexford-born rider retired in April 2023 after a career closely associated with Philip Hobbs’s Somerset stable. His major victories included two Welsh Grand Nationals and two wins at the Cheltenham Festival.

Hobbs, who employed O’Brien throughout his British riding career, remembered both his ability and his character.

“He was always very reliable and a very good bloke,” the trainer said in a tribute reported by The42.

O’Brien spent much of his time at the yard riding alongside Richard Johnson, becoming first jockey following the four-time champion’s retirement in 2021. Hobbs said he had remained in contact with O’Brien, who had visited the stable only weeks ago.

Dream Alliance and Cheltenham victories

Among O’Brien’s most widely remembered rides was Dream Alliance’s victory in the 2009 Welsh Grand National. The horse’s story later inspired the film Dream Horse.

He won the Chepstow marathon again in 2018 aboard Colin Tizzard’s Elegant Escape. At Cheltenham, he partnered Silk Affair to win the 2009 Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle before returning to the Festival winner’s enclosure on Third Wind in the 2022 Pertemps Final.

His partnership with Thyme Hill brought Grade 1 victories in the 2021 Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree and the 2022 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton.

O’Brien reached 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland aboard Head On at Worcester in August 2021. Reflecting on that milestone, he credited the loyalty of his family, employers and supporters throughout his career.

He leaves Hayley and their two sons, Archie and Toby.