Tom O'Brien

Tom O'Brien (born 1986) is a retired British-based Irish jockey who competed in National Hunt racing. Wexford-born O'Brien began his career in racing by riding out for his uncle Shay Slevin before starting to ride out for another uncle, Aidan O'Brien, where he rode champion horses such as High Chaparral and Rock of Gibraltar. After riding in point-to-points, O'Brien moved to England in 2004 to work at the stable of Philip Hobbs in Minehead, Somerset. He remained at the same stable from 2004 to his retirement in 2023, becoming first jockey for Hobbs when Richard Johnson retired in 2021. In the 2005/06 season, O'Brien was crowned champion amateur rider with 32 winners, including Captain Corelli in the Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock Park. He turned professional in June of that year, winning two races at his first professional race meeting. In the 2006/07 season he was champion conditional jockey with 123 wins, a tally that remained his career-best. In 2007 O'Brien rode McKelvey, trained by Peter Bowen, into second place behind Silver Birch in the Grand National. In the 2008 Grand National, McKelvey unseated O'Brien at the twentieth fence, went on to jump the next fence riderless, fell and was euthanized.