Tributes paid to legendary racing tipster
TRIBUTES ARE PAID TO MAN EVERYONE KNEW AND RESPECTED
HE was the top racing pundit for more than 50 years, but now legendary North East journalist Doug Moscrop has died aged 77.
Wearing the badge of The Journal’s Racing Editor for decades, he was a household name that everyone knew.
But now Doug has crossed the finishing line for the very last time after it is believed he suffered a heart attack following a successful operation for an aneurism on his aorta.
His daughter, Susan Robson, choked back tears as she paid tribute to the man who was so well known in the region and was the best dad in the world to her.
Susan, 49, of Gosforth, Newcastle, said: “I can’t describe how I feel. There is an empty space in my heart. He achieved so much in his life and I’m so proud of him. We went out every Sunday for lunch and that I will miss. For an ordinary lad from Northumberland he really did well with his life, I can’t tell you how proud he made us.”
Doug, from Cramlington, Northumberland, died in Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital yesterday at 1.20am.
His wife Joan died two years ago.
In a decorated career in the ‘Sport of Kings,’ he finished second in the national tipsters’ chart on three occasions – as well as picking up numerous national racing awards and the Variety Club’s prestigious silver heart.
But it might have been different for him – and the North East racing scene – if an early act of mischief hadn’t turned out so well.
Hired by the Berwick Advertiser as a cub reporter, Doug spotted an afternoon’s point-to-point racing at his local track Kelso and figured the office wouldn’t notice if he sneaked out to watch it.
He wasn’t quite as stealthy as he imagined. Word soon got back to the editor and he was – to put it politely – advised to find another job.
In an interview with The Journal in 2013, he took up the story. He said: “I was lucky enough to get an interview up in Newcastle and they asked me what I liked doing.
“I told them about racing and I was offered a job doing the racing and minor football.
“I have to say, though, I haven’t written a word about minor football to this day!”
It would turn out to be the wisest decision of his life. For over half a century he was immersed in a sport he loved – racing.
Doug wrote for The Journal for 44 years, as well as being a racing consultant for Tyne Tees for 34 years.
He retired from The Journal on May 13, 2006, but continued to write a regular Saturday column and selected his daily treble for years after.
And the same year he retired The Variety Club chose to honour Doug after decades at the centre of NorthEast’s racing coverage.
Doug, who was born in Mindrum Station, near Berwick, leaves daughter Susan, son-in-law Bryan, 47, stepdaughter Julie Bartle, 58, her partner Joe Whitfield, 60, granddaughter Anna, 29, and nine-year-old great grandson Jayden.
John Gibson, 78, former Chronicle executive sports editor, said: “Doug was a leading figure in racing for years, not only in the North East but nationally.
“He was exuberant, a larger than life character.”