Hugh Munro (trainer)

Hugh Munro was a racehorse trainer in Victoria, closely associated with the St Albans Stud of Geelong. He was the father of noted Sydney jockeys Jimmie Munro and Darby Munro.

Hugh "Hughie" Munro (1861 – 2 June 1925) was trainer for W. R. Wilson at the Whittington, Victoria, St Albans Stud, managed by C. Leslie Macdonald. Hugh trained Revenue, winner of the 1901 Melbourne Cup; he also had Wakeful, a champion mare who ran second in 1903, and seven other placegetters in the Melbourne Cup. Munro had ambitions for his two younger sons, Jim and Darby, to land the big event. He would see Jim run second on Rivoli in 1923, but died before he made the great win on Windbag in 1925, and Statesman three years later. Hugh Munro always believed his youngest son Darby, who as a lad knew how to sit on a horse, would one day become one of Australia's most notable riders. Darby would win the Cup on Peter Pan in 1934.

The Munros moved to Randwick, Sydney, about 1916. Three sons were notable for their work in the racing industry:

John Frederick "Jack" Munro ( – 1959 or earlier) was an A.R.C.-licensed trainer, based at Warwick Farm and racing stables at Liverpool. Among the racehorses he trained were: Contrast; Coinash; La Gloria; Allunga; 1935 *A.J.C. Derby/Australian Derby; Correct; Karingal. In May 1939 Munro and jockey H. Hughes were disqualified for 12 months after stewards considered Grand Hotel "had not been allowed to run on his merits". On appeal the ban was lifted.

He was in 1944 licensee of the Cootamundra Hotel in Cootamundra, later the New Zealand Hotel at the bottom of William Street, Sydney.

James Leslie "Jim" "Jimmie" Munro (7 September 1906 – 24 July 1974) was born in Caulfield, Victoria, and was recognised by Dick Wootton and William Kelso as a talented rider when quite young, and rode for his father, completing his apprenticeship as a jockey with E. F. Walker (c. 1884–1946), the Randwick, New South Wales, trainer. He had his first Melbourne Cup ride at age 15, then in 1923 he was second on Rivoli; in 1926 he won on Windbag and again in 1928 on Statesman. His first big win was the 1922 Sydney Cup on Prince Charles, owned by John Brown. He won many other major races in Melbourne and Sydney during the 1920s: on Valicare in the Doncaster, Boaster in the Epsom and Leslie Wallace in the Sires Produce Stakes. In 1927 he was disqualified for a year following his ride on the gelding Songift at Canterbury on 18 June, along with the horse, trainer S. B. Kelly and Parkes bookmaker J. Leech, by a majority decision of the committee following some irregular betting and the horse failing at the final stretch, though to what end was never made clear. This was not the first time he came to the attention of the stewards: in 1923 he had a month's suspension for interference in the Hawksburn Handicap. He was suspended again, in April 1929 for one month, following a complaint of interference by jockey H. Birmingham and subsequent altercation in the jockeys' room. These incidents had little effect on Munro's career: he rode Phar Lap in the Rosehill Guineas on 21 September 1929, one of the great gelding's earliest wins (his first was the Rosehill Maiden Juvenile Handicap, 27 April 1929). Notable wins include:

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