Australian racing is mourning the loss of Melbourne Cup-winning jockey John Marshall who has died aged 60.

Marshall died on Sunday night from pancreatic cancer, an illness few knew he had.

Sydney's premier jockey in 1987/88 riding against such luminaries as Ron Quinton, Darren Beadman, Malcolm Johnston, Jim Cassidy, Wayne Harris and Kevin Moses, Marshall had a long association with trainer Bart Cummings.

He rode many of Cummings' champions including Beau Zam, Campaign King, Sky Chase and Shaftesbury Avenue.

In 1999, Marshall rode the 11th of Cummings' 12 Melbourne Cup winners, Rogan Josh, and a year later he retired.

Reserved and quietly spoken, Marshall took great pleasure in recent years as a Melbourne Cup ambassador and in following the career of his jockey son Taylor who is based in Queensland.

Anthony Cummings, son of the late Bart, expressed his sorrow on Twitter via Cummings Racing.

"From all of us @CummingsRacing and the whole Cummings Family, our thoughts are with The Marshall Family after John's passing last night. John was a huge part of Leilani Lodge prior to his retirement, and a great friend of Anthony's. May he rest in peace. Vale Johnny Marshall" he said.

Racing NSW paid tribute to Marshall as a jockey and a person.

"John Marshall was an elite jockey; humble and a thorough gentleman," chief executive Peter V'landys said.

"John competed with distinction in an era with an abundance of great jockeys and his combination with the legendary Bart Cummings was one of the most successful partnerships in racing."

Jockeys riding at Wednesday's Summer Cup meeting will wear black armbands in the feature race and the Australian Turf Club will honour Marshall with a race named for him at Randwick on Saturday.