Tom O'Brien

Tom O'Brien was born on 28 November 1986 in County Wexford, Ireland, and was associated with Clonroche in local reporting. His father, Jim O'Brien, is a brother of the trainer Aidan O'Brien and worked at Ballydoyle before moving to work with Joseph O'Brien at Owning. Tom began riding out for his uncle Shay Slevin and then for Aidan O'Brien, where he sat on top-class Flat horses including High Chaparral and Rock of Gibraltar. He also rode in point-to-points before leaving Ireland.

Details of O'Brien's schooling have not been made public. His real education was in racing yards: first with his uncles Shay Slevin and Aidan O'Brien in Ireland, then from 2004 at Philip Hobbs's Sandhill stables in Minehead, Somerset, where he arrived as a teenager who had not yet ridden in a race.

O'Brien rode his first winner under rules on The Names Bond at Warwick on 18 December 2004. He was champion amateur rider in 2005 to 2006, winning the Tommy Whittle Chase on Captain Corelli in 2005, and turned professional in June 2006. In 2006 to 2007 he was champion conditional jockey with more than 100 winners, his best season.

In 2007 he was second in the Grand National on McKelvey for Peter Bowen and won his first Grade 1, the Challow Novices' Hurdle, on Souffleur. His Cheltenham Festival winners were Silk Affair (2009 Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle) and Third Wind (2022 Pertemps Network Final). He won the Welsh Grand National on Dream Alliance in 2009 and Elegant Escape in 2018, the Topham Chase on Always Waining in 2011 and 2012, the Becher Chase on Chance Du Roy in 2013, the Imperial Cup on London Prize in 2017 and the Paddy Power Gold Cup on Coole Cody in 2020.

His Grade 1 winners were Souffleur, Finian's Oscar (2017 Tolworth), Elixir De Nutz (2019 Tolworth) and Thyme Hill (2021 Liverpool Hurdle and 2022 Kauto Star Novices' Chase). He reached 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland on Head On at Worcester on 22 August 2021, only one of them in Ireland. After years as second jockey to Richard Johnson at the Hobbs yard, he became first jockey when Johnson retired in 2021. His last winner was Thomas Mor at Ascot on 18 February 2023 and his last ride was Thyme Hill, fourth at Sandown on 29 April 2023.

O'Brien married Hayley, and the couple had two sons, Archie and Toby. In March 2022 he famously rode a winner and then raced from the winner's enclosure to hospital in time for the birth of his second son. After retiring he lived about half an hour from the Hobbs yard and stayed in close touch with the stable. Colleagues described him as a hard-working family man.

O'Brien was known in the weighing room for his kindness, humility and loyalty. He spent his entire riding career with one main stable, and Philip Hobbs called him "always very reliable and a very good bloke." When he retired he said simply that he felt he had given his all. His public statements about his own beliefs have not been widely reported.

O'Brien is remembered as one of the most dependable jump jockeys of his generation, one of only a handful of riders active in 2021 to have reached 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland. His partnership with Thyme Hill and his Welsh National win on Dream Alliance, the horse whose story inspired the film Dream Horse, are lasting parts of racing history. The British Horseracing Authority said he "touched countless lives on both sides of the Irish Sea."

Champion amateur rider (2005 to 2006). Champion conditional jockey (2006 to 2007). Five Grade 1 wins: Challow Novices' Hurdle (Souffleur, 2007), Tolworth Novices' Hurdle (Finian's Oscar, 2017; Elixir De Nutz, 2019), Liverpool Hurdle (Thyme Hill, 2021) and Kauto Star Novices' Chase (Thyme Hill, 2022). Two Cheltenham Festival winners. Two Welsh Grand Nationals (2009, 2018). Paddy Power Gold Cup (2020). Two Topham Chases (2011, 2012). Becher Chase (2013).

O'Brien rode Dream Alliance to win the 2009 Welsh Grand National. The horse, bred and owned by a syndicate from the Welsh village of Cefn Fforest, became the subject of the documentary Dark Horse and the feature film Dream Horse. Many of his big wins, including Thyme Hill's Liverpool Hurdle and Kauto Star Novices' Chase, were broadcast on Racing TV and ITV Racing.

In the 2008 Grand National, a year after finishing second on him, O'Brien was unseated from McKelvey at the twentieth fence. The horse continued riderless, fell and was later euthanised. No wider controversies involving O'Brien have been reported.

O'Brien was diagnosed with cancer after his retirement. In early November 2026, Ciaran Gethings dedicated a win on Javert Allen at Aintree to him, telling ITV Racing that his friend was going through a tough time. News of O'Brien's death was announced on the morning of Wednesday 11 November 2026; talkSPORT's Alex Crook reported that he had died the previous night. He was 39. Co-trainer Johnson White said his wife Hayley, his two boys and his family were with him until the end. Funeral arrangements had not been made public at the time of writing.