Tom O'Brien, the Cheltenham Festival-winning jockey who rode more than 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland, has died aged 39 after a battle with cancer. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), where O'Brien worked as a steward after retiring from the saddle, announced his death on Wednesday.

A career built at Minehead

Born in Wexford, O'Brien was a nephew of champion trainer Aidan O'Brien. He moved to Britain in 2004 as a teenager to join Philip Hobbs's stable at Minehead in Somerset, and stayed with the yard for the whole of his riding career. He was crowned champion conditional jockey in 2006-07 after riding 105 winners in a season, and finished second in the 2007 Grand National on McKelvey. His final ride came at Sandown in April 2023, when he finished fourth on Thyme Hill before retiring.

Festival and Welsh National glory

O'Brien won two races at the Cheltenham Festival: the Fred Winter on Silk Affair in 2009 and the Pertemps Final on Third Wind in 2022. He also won the Welsh Grand National twice, first aboard Dream Alliance in 2009, a horse whose story was later turned into the film Dream Horse, and again on Elegant Escape in 2018. His five Grade One victories included the Liverpool Hurdle in 2021 and the Kauto Star Novices' Chase in 2022, both on Thyme Hill.

Tributes pour in

BHA chief executive Brant Dunshea said: "Tom passed away surrounded by his loved ones following a long and courageous battle with cancer, which he faced with the steely determination and drive that typified the man so many of us knew." Four-time champion jockey Richard Johnson, a long-time colleague in the Hobbs yard, led the tributes to an "all-round great person". O'Brien leaves his wife Hayley and their two sons, Toby and Archie. He would have turned 40 on 28 November. Source: Sporting Life | Source: Press Association