Legendary jockey Darby McCarthy dies

Aged 76 years, he was born Richard Lawrence McCarthy, and was one of 13 children born to Kate and Alfred McCarthy, in a sandhills camp at Cunnamulla in western Queensland.

Mr McCarthy was a proud descendant of the Mithika people and his carefree attitude that saw him leave school at the age of nine and start work at Yakara Station where his passion for horses developed.

He was a regular in the pony yard and he became involved in riding wild calves and brumbies. He had natural skills that were as good as the older men who worked on the station.

It was at a Flying Doctor's race meeting in Thargomindah where Mr McCarthy then aged 10 won his first race in borrowed silks and boots. It was on that day he was given the nickname "Darby" after Darby Munro one of Australia's well known jockeys.

From these humble beginnings Mr McCarthy went on to become one of Australia's top jockeys in the 1960s. He won 1000 races in Australia, England and France.

Mr McCarthy will be remembered for his golden era of winning the Stradbroke Handicap three times riding Mullala (1963), Cele's Image (1964) and Castanea (1966).

He then created history by winning the Epsom and Derby double at Randwick before his life plunged into a series of of controversies and personal drama that dominated his career.

At his peak, Mr McCarthy was one of the world's best jockeys and for a time he rode with success in France.

In his biography written by Lauren Callaway published in 2004 'Against all Odds', Mr McCarthy held nothing back.

He willingly shared his rags to riches to rags again story of a champion who battled the odds to stay in the winning circle, while he struggled to find his true identity in the midst of a whirlwind of women, affairs, suicides and breakdowns.

Darling Downs bloodstock consultant Peter Bredhauer, a good friend of Mr McCarthy, said that both the late George Moore and Roy Higgins had described Mr McCarthy as 'one of the finest horsemen they ever rode against.'

They told Mr Bredhauer 'he had hands of silk and the best balance ever seen'.

"His ride to win the T S Carlyon Cup on Hyperno at Caulfield in March 1978 was one of the best rides ever seen," Mr Bredhauer said.

"Hyperno was renowned for stopping in his races and the late Roy Higgins was disqualified for six months when riding Hyperno in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup in 1978."

Mr McCarthy never touched the horse with the whip and with a brilliant display of hands and heels riding coaxed Hyperno to victory.

"Darby had a great following with western Queensland and probably the best horse he rode from out there was a horse called Alspick," Mr Bredhauer said.

"It was owned by livestock agent the late Reg Kent of Tambo.

"Alspick won a maiden at Tambo and an Improvers at Blackall.

"Alspick was sent down to Mal Barnes and with Darby riding him in most his races he won two AJC Summer Cups, City Tatts Gold Cup and beaten a nose a year earlier."

He also won the Grafton Ramornie and the Nolan Memorial and it showed how versatile he was when placed in a Queensland Cup (2 miles) and ran fourth in the AJC Doncaster.

Mr Bredhauer said Mr McCarthy was a highly regarded 'Elder' by his people and in the Aboriginal Community.

"He will be sorely missed as one of their foremost leaders and one of the best Aboriginal sportsmen of all time," he said.

In his later years Mr McCarthy launched the Darby McCarthy Employment Strategy, which is a program that provides support and assistance to secure and maintain a job in the racing and breeding industry for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Mr McCarthy was inducted into the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame in 2004.

At the time he said "I have worked very hard for it - from the time I was 10 and rode my first winner in Thargomindah.

"I feel very privileged. Racing has been good to me, but I feel I have been good for racing.

"To be honoured in the Hall of Fame is a wonderful thing for me."

In June 2016 he was honoured with the award of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for 'service to the horse racing industry'.

Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio paid tribute to Mr McCarthy.

He said Darby had left a lasting-legacy which would never be forgotten.

"On behalf of Council and the wider community, I am deeply saddened to hear of Darby's passing. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends in this difficult time," Mayor Antonio said.

"Darby had a distinguished career, achieving both national and international success.

"While he wasn't born in the Toowoomba Region, he resided here in his later life and made a major imprint while he lived here.

"He was an inspiration to the Indigenous community with many sporting stars across the country often praising him, including former Gold-medallist Cathy Freeman, who resided in his house while she was at boarding school in Toowoomba.

"Darby was an exceptional athlete and an even better human-being. It's truly sad we have lost such a wonderful person."

Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe also paid tribute to Mr McCarthy.

"I first met Darby when he was part of an acknowledgement to country ceremony many years ago when it was a rare way to mark the beginning of an official function," he said.

"He was a real boy from the bush whose talent as a jockey surpassed much of anything our racing industry had ever seen.

"We will never truly understand the many barriers he overcame to become one of the finest athletes ever produced in Queensland, if not the nation.

"My thoughts are with his family and friends and this very sad time."