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3d ago

Tom O’Brien Dies Aged 39 After Battle With Cancer

BHA said his passing cuts short a promising stewarding career, prompting an outpouring of tributes from trainers, jockeys and racing bodies.

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Tom O’Brien won twice at the Cheltenham Festival in his career.
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Overview

  • The British Horseracing Authority confirmed on Wednesday, November 11 that O’Brien died after a long fight with cancer and was surrounded by his loved ones.
  • O’Brien rode more than 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland and claimed multiple Grade One victories, including two Cheltenham Festival wins and two Welsh Grand National successes.
  • He moved from Wexford to Britain in 2004 to join Philip Hobbs’s Minehead yard, was champion conditional in 2006–07 and retired from race riding in April 2023 before joining the BHA’s stewarding team.
  • Trainers and colleagues led tributes, with Philip Hobbs and Richard Johnson praising his character and Brant Dunshea of the BHA calling his death a ‘devastating loss’; fellow jockey Ciaran Gethings had publicly referenced O’Brien’s illness at Aintree last weekend.
  • O’Brien is survived by his wife Hayley and their sons Toby and Archie, and the racing community faces the immediate task of supporting his family while marking the loss of a respected rider and emerging steward.