Jockey Tom O’Brien dies aged 39 after cancer diagnosis
Jockey Tom O’Brien, who rode more than 1,000 winners and won the Welsh Grand National twice, has died aged 39 after a cancer diagnosis.
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Jockey Tom O’Brien has died aged 39 after being diagnosed with cancer, BBC Sport reports.
The Irish rider recorded more than 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland, including two at the Cheltenham Festival and two Welsh Grand Nationals. He retired in 2023 after a career closely associated with trainer Philip Hobbs’s Minehead yard, which he joined as a teenager.
O’Brien won the 2021 Liverpool Hurdle and the 2022 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase aboard Hobbs-trained Thyme Hill.
Hobbs said he was “very sad” for O’Brien’s wife, Hayley, and their two young children. He recalled O’Brien as talented and reliable, and said they had kept in touch since his retirement.
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