‘The thing Tom really did was touch people’: Lydia Hislop and Brant Dunshea remember Tom O’Brien

Lydia Hislop has paid a heartfelt tribute to Tom O’Brien, saying the former jockey’s greatest gift was the way he touched people.

O’Brien, a multiple Grade 1-winning jockey, died this week at the age of 39, just days short of his 40th birthday. He leaves his wife Hayley and their sons Toby and Archie.

Hislop, Nick’s guest on Thursday’s programme, said she spent the previous evening watching videos of O’Brien and remembering him in her own way. “Many of us knew that this sad day was coming. We were hoping against hope for many, many months that it wasn’t going to happen,” she said. “Even though you know that, it’s still so shocking, particularly as someone so young, just days shy of his 40th birthday, leaving such a young family to whom he was devoted.”

“The thing that Tom really did was touch people, because he was such a nice, genuine, lovely human being.”

Lydia Hislop

“Everybody has celebrated what he did in the saddle, which was excellent, with some fantastic wins,” she added. “But the thing that Tom really did was touch people, because he was such a nice, genuine, lovely human being.”

Building a career after racing

BHA chief executive Brant Dunshea said O’Brien’s death has had “a huge impact” across the organisation, where he had been heavily involved after his riding career ended. “Tom first started chatting with me before he retired about what his career after racing looked like,” he told Nick Luck. “He became incredibly committed to wanting to pursue a career working in the regulatory side of racing. Even before he retired, the tenacity he showed in developing his skills and building himself up for a career after racing was testament to the person we all knew and loved.”

“He was a champion as a jockey on the track, but off the track, Tom was just such a lovely, likeable person,” Dunshea said. “I’ve found myself in the last couple of days incredibly emotional, up and down about it, because I spoke to Tom myself a lot. A lot of the team supported him over the last couple of years, and we can only imagine what it must be like for his family and closest friends. It’s just an incredibly sad day for us all.”