Hear the full interview
From 0:30 in Wednesday’s episode of Nick Luck Daily. Press play to start at the interview.
Racing is mourning former jump jockey Tom O’Brien, who has died of cancer at the age of 39.
O’Brien, a nephew of Aidan O’Brien, rode more than 1,000 winners in Britain and Ireland, including multiple Grade 1 winners and two Cheltenham Festival successes. He spent almost two decades riding for Philip Hobbs, later Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, at Minehead. He leaves his wife Hayley and their sons Archie and Toby.
‘You couldn’t get a harder-working, nicer family man’
Johnson White told Nick Luck that the yard had been by O’Brien’s side throughout his illness. “We’ve all known that Tom’s been very unwell for some time, and we’ve all been there by his side on his journey,” he said. “You just couldn’t get a harder-working, nicer family man.”
“I messaged Richard Johnson this morning and he just texted back saying ‘life is so cruel’. Realistically, you can’t say any more than that,” he added. “He leaves a lovely wife, Hayley, two wonderful boys, and a loving family that were there with him until the end. Some things aren’t fair, and the passing of Tom is definitely not fair.”
“Life is so cruel. Realistically, you can’t say any more than that.”
Johnson White, quoting Richard Johnson
White said their professional relationship quickly grew into a friendship. “He was the life and soul of any get-together. You couldn’t get anyone to work harder. All the owners loved him, and he rode particularly well,” he said. “I very much considered him a friend rather than a professional relationship, which I think is testament to him and what a top man he was.”
‘A deep thinker and a really loyal man’
ITV Racing’s Oli Bell, Nick’s guest on the programme, said: “It’s just desperately sad. It’s no age at all. In all my dealings with Tom, I found him to be a thoroughly nice man. He was a deep thinker at times, and a really loyal man to Philip and Johnson, riding alongside Richard Johnson for many years at that yard.”
“It was a real struggle in the latter years of Tom’s life, a brutal illness, and Tom tackled that with the same energy he seemingly put into everything, with a real head-down humbleness,” he added. “It was inspiring in many ways. He touched many people’s lives, he achieved an awful lot in his career, and he will be deeply missed.”
A distinguished career
O’Brien was champion amateur in 2005-06 and champion conditional the following season, when he rode 105 winners in Britain and finished third in the jockeys’ championship. In 2007 he finished second in the Grand National on McKelvey.
His Cheltenham Festival winners were Silk Affair in the 2009 Fred Winter and Third Wind in the 2022 Pertemps Final. He won two Welsh Grand Nationals, on Dream Alliance and Elegant Escape, as well as the Paddy Power Gold Cup on Coole Cody and two Topham Chases on Always Waining. His five Grade 1 wins were the Challow Hurdle on Souffleur, the Tolworth Hurdle on Finian’s Oscar and Elixir De Nutz, and the Liverpool Hurdle and Kauto Star Novices’ Chase on Thyme Hill.
He reached 1,000 winners in August 2021 and retired in April 2023, bowing out on Thyme Hill at Sandown.
