Tom O’Brien is known as one of the more popular Irish jockeys in the horse racing scene. The 30-year-old has tried his hand at a bunch of things in the sport, with varying degrees of success. His current staple is National Hunt Racing. When O’Brien started out, all his races were for Shay Slevin. However, he soon moved up the rung, but not before putting in some shift for his uncle Aidan O’Brien. As a winner, O’Brien is probably not one of the conspicuous ones out there, but he did ride extremely popular horses such as the revered Rock of Gilbraltar and High Chapparal.
At the start of O’Brien’s career, he always craved for plenty of rides and lots of winners. Unfortunately, this does not happen too much in Ireland, which is why he made the choice to move to England 13 years ago. It wasn’t a bad decision either; here, he would get all the exposure he wanted and grab the opportunity to shine alongside some of the top stars in the game. The ultimate play was to make it to the top and keep his career soaring. At the moment, the Irish jockey is known to work with Peter Bowen and Phillip Hobbs.
O’Brien at the races
Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle Grade 3 was the first to fall, a feat the jockey achieved while riding Silk Affair in 2009. 2013 was a great year too, where O’Brien grabbed the Betfred Becher Handicap Chase (Grade 3) with all the honours going to Chance Du Roy. 2017 hasn’t been bad at all either, with the Irishman already on two major wins and oh.
O’Brien’s pay dirt doesn’t look half bad, with some big money pay offs popping up now and then. For instance, Coral Welsh National (Handicap Chase) Grade 3(2009) brought home £57,010. Betfred Becher Handicap Chase (Grade 3) grossed £84,405 in December 2013. Probably best to invest that wad, wouldn’t you say?
