He was our top racing pundit for more than 50 years and Doug Moscrop’s coffin was led by a retired racehorse as crowds gathered to say farewell.
And his love of the ‘Sport of Kings’ meant he was treated like royalty when the cortège was led by Mister McGoldrick and its rider dressed in Toon black and white stripes.
Scores turned up to say good bye to the top tipster who wore the badge of the Journal’s Racing Editor for decades, and was a household name that everyone knew.
He died at the age of 77 and lay in his coffin clutching a copy of the Racing Post and wearing his tuxedo suit.
His funeral was held on Wednesday at St Nicholas Church in Cramlington, Northumberland, followed by a cremation at Whitley Bay Crematorium. And, of course, it was back to Newcastle Racecourse for the wake.
Daughter Susan Robson, 49, of Gosforth, Newcastle, choked back tears and said: “I have followed every single request that my dad wanted. Everything has been done. My husband Bryan has made all the phone calls to make everything happen, I simply didn’t have the strength.
North East legendary racing tipster Doug Moscrop has died aged 77
“Dad and I sat down before Christmas and he told me everything he wanted at his funeral. We had just had Sunday lunch and then he told me he wanted a racehorse, what he wanted to wear, the songs and hymns he liked and where he wanted his ashes scattered.
"Dad was a Newcastle United fan so we thought it would be the icing on top of the cake if we got the rider wearing black and white stripes. Dad even wrote about this horse in the past.
"We have done everything he requested and he will be chuffed to bits.”
Former head of sport at Tyne Tees Roger Tames and North Yorkshire horse racing journalist Joe Rowntree gave the eulogies, while Susan read out a poem in his memory.
Doug’s coffin was carried into the church as Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ was played and he was carried out to Daniel O’Donnel’s ‘Danny Boy’.
The cortège then made its way to the crematorium where Sean Fearon’s ‘Carrick Furgus’ was played and Ellie Goulding’s ‘How Long Will I Love You’.
Doug, from Cramlington, Northumberland, died in Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital on Wednesday, April 17. It is believed he suffered a heart attack following a successful operation for an aneurism on his aorta.
His wife Joan died over two years ago. Doug, who was born in Mindrum Station, near Berwick, leaves daughter Susan, son-in-law Bryan, 47, step-daughter Julie Bartle, 58, her partner Joe Whitfield, 60, granddaughter Anna, 29, and nine-year-old great grandson Jayden.
In a decorated career he finished second in the national tipsters’ chart on three occasions – as well as picking up numerous national racing awards.
Doug wrote for The Journal for 44 years, as well as being a racing consultant for Tyne Tees TV 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 with a prestigious silver heart after decades at the centre of North-East’s racing coverage.
In the eulogy Roger said: “There really was only one Moscrop, someone who summed up the description of a larger than life character. He was aged 77 but in reality he lived for a good 150 years because he packed two normal lifetimes into his spell on the planet.
“... Television, and particularly regional ITV, was very different in those earlier days. Tyne Tees played a far more prominent part in the life of our region and Moscrop became a major part of the company’s identity. You didn’t have to know or be interested in racing. For many viewers Doug Moscrop was racing. He became a Tyne Tees institution.”
Fellow journalist Joe said: “He enjoyed a good working relationship with all the Northern racecourses and was largely responsible for the Journal’s long running sponsorship at Newcastle. For years Plate Day opened with the Journal Good Morning Handicap. So it was fitting that when he retired in 2009, that there was a special party in a marquee by the winning line on Plate Day.
“Unfortunately we didn’t see great deal of him on the racecourse afterwards as he spent time caring for his late wife Joan in her battle against cancer.
“But he was not forgotten – and never will be by those of us here today or the Tyneside punters who made him a Geordie Icon.”
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