Disgraced jockey went off the rails despite scaling the heights of racing

Jockey Chris Munce's career had been extraordinarily successful until it imploded with yesterday's court judgment against him over the so-called tips-for-bets scam.

Munce, 37, was born in the coastal town of Casino, in northern New South Wales, Australia, but emerged as a rising star in the jockey ranks in Brisbane.

The champion apprentice became Brisbane's champion jockey three times and eventually moved to Sydney to further his career.

His success against the nation's best riders did not come at once. In fact, his first foray linked to the Lee Freedman stable in 1992-93 was disastrous - he was beaten three times on champion Super Impose and was ultimately sacked.

A disillusioned Munce returned to Queensland to regain his confidence, and did so, but eventually the lure of the 'big smoke' got his competitive juices pumping again. This time he never looked back.

His first 'major' outside of Brisbane was the 1997 Golden Slipper Stakes - the world's richest race for two-year-olds - on Prowl, for trainer Clarry Conners. He forged a connection with the eminent trainer Gai Waterhouse and the featured race winners really started to flow.

Munce landed the 'race that stops the nation', the Melbourne Cup, in 1998 on Jezabeel, and another Golden Slipper on the champion juvenile Dance Hero in 2004, and then gained Cox Plate justice, 12 years down the track, when guiding Savabeel to victory at Moonee Valley in October 2004.