The incredible story and wild ride of the great 'Demon Darb' jockey, Darby Munro

David Hugh Munro (1913-1966), was a champion Australian jockey, better known as Darby Munro during his racing years. A master tactician who was often the focus of controversy, Darby Munro was one of the legendary characters of the Australian turf. His brother, James Leslie Munro (1906-1974) was also a jockey, born to Hugh and Susannah Munro in Caulfield, Melbourne. The Munro's were steeped in thoroughbred lore and racing, as Hugh trained Revenue, the winner of the 1901 Melbourne Cup; he also trained Wakeful, a champion mare which ran second in the 1903 Cup, won the 1902 Sydney Cup and £16,690 in stakes earnings. The Munros moved to Randwick, Sydney, about 1916.

James "Jimmie" Munro was absorbed in horses and stables. His precocious riding skills were recognised by astute horsemen Dick Wootton and William Kelso, but his father refused their offers and indentured him to himself; he completed his apprenticeship with E. Walker. At 15 Munro had his first ride in the Melbourne Cup; in 1923 he was second on Rivoli, but won on Windbag in 1925 and on Statesman in 1928. His first big win had been on Prince Charles, owned by John Brown, in the 1922 Sydney Cup. In the 1920s he won many major races in Sydney and Melbourne on several other outstanding horses, including Phar Lap, Amounis and the Tom Payten trained Valicare. In 1927 he was disqualified for a year for his ride on Songift at Canterbury. Munro was a strong rider, proficient with the whip and with hands and heels. Munro would often daringly clap the pace on in the early or middle stages, breaking the field up and often emerging an easy winner.

David "Darby" Munro went to the Marist Brothers' College, Randwick, and was apprenticed to his brother John. He won his first race at 14 on the George Price trained Release at long odds, defeating Jimmie's mount by a head. He won the 1930 Australian Jockey Club Challenge Stakes and Doncaster Handicap on Venetian Lady, and soon established himself as a daring and vigorous rider, constantly engaged by leading trainers, including Jack Holt, Bailey Payten and Peter Riddell. In 1933 he won the A.J.C. Derby and Victoria Racing Club Derby on the brilliant Hall Mark, and next year his first Melbourne Cup on the legendary Peter Pan; in 1944 he won on Sirius and on Russia in 1946. Darby also rode Allunga to beat the great Ajax in the 1939 Ranvet Stakes.

By 1939 Munro was hailed as Australia's best jockey. A poker-faced character, he was known, among other names, as 'The Demon Darb'. His relations with punters were ambiguous: they occasionally hooted when he lost, especially on a favourite, but cheered when he won. No one doubted his skill or courage, as he was a very strong rider with a punishing whip style, but he could nurse a tiring mount with consummate artistry. He always looked supremely confident on a horse no matter it's chances. Like Jimmie, he was a great judge of pace, and dominated many weight-for-age races in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1930s and 1940s with his clever tactics. He rode nine winners at the 1940 A.J.C. Easter carnival, including the Doncaster-Sydney Cup double. Perhaps his best ride was on Shannon, carrying 9st. 9lb. (61 kg), in the 1946 Epsom at Randwick when he was accidentally left at the post by 90 metres, but pursued the field, manoeuvring his mount through needle-eye openings, coming second by a half head. Darby considered Shannon’s performance in the Epsom the best put up by any horse he'd ever ridden in 21 years in the saddle. His defeat was a racing tragedy in more ways than one. The half-head by which he was beaten is equal to about six inches (15cm). It doesn’t seem much but being on the wrong end of it made Munro a heel instead of a hero, booed off the course and needing police protection to exit the track. The fans adored Darby but with high expectations by punters came huge criticism when he failed to deliver.

Darby had no peer in classics and weight-for-age races, where the manner in which a race was run often determined the result. He tended to dictate that pattern. He demonstrated this mastery with five wins in each of the WS Cox Plate, the Victorian Derby and the AJC Derby.

Apart from his wins in those major features, Munro won the AJC Sires Produce Stakes four times, and Brisbane Cup, the VRC St. Leger three times, the QAJC Oaks twice, the AJC Sires Produce Stakes four times, the Epsom twice and the Doncaster twice. At the AJC autumn meeting at Randwick during Easter 1940, he rode nine winners. Darby also rode the talented Katanga in the 1940's up against the great galloper and dual Cox Plate winner Flight, with a number of tight tussles to the line.

In 1940 Munro's riding weight rose to 8st. 5lb. (53 kg) and he had a constant struggle to keep it down. He had trouble with the racing stewards and in 1941 his licence was revoked for six months. He enlisted in the army on 25 June 1942 and served in the salvage section but was discharged medically unfit on 11 February 1944. He was disqualified for two years in October 1948 because of his ride on Vagabond at Caulfield: in retrospect it seems the stewards misread his expert handling in the straight of a horse that could do no more and lost by a head. As a result of this case, he failed to obtain a licence to ride in England in 1953, but he rode in California, United States of America, and France that year. He retired in 1955 and was granted a No.1 trainer's licence, but he had only moderate success.

In 1964 Munro's left leg was amputated because of diabetes. He died on 3 April 1966 in Sydney Hospital from cerebral haemorrhage, survived by his wife Kathleen Waverley, formerly Frauenfelder, née Trautwein, whom he had married on 24 June 1958 at North Sydney Registry Office, and by two daughters of his second marriage.The Darby Munro Stakes is run annually by the Sydney Turf Club in his memory. And he surely deserves to be remembered.