Tributes have been paid to popular Scottish bookmaker Tommy Morton after he died of a heart attack March 12 while working at Ayr Racecourse. He was 90.
Morton, who traded under his own name, celebrated 60 years as an on-course layer in 2017 and Ayr commemorated his service by naming a race in his honor. He was a regular at all the Scottish tracks, as well as a few in the north of England.
He collapsed just before the second race near his pitch, which is situated near the parade ring. Paramedics attended to him before he was transferred to a nearby Ayr hospital, but he died that night, with his son and daughter in attendance.
"Tommy Morton was one of the true characters of the Scottish racing scene. He celebrated his 90th birthday earlier this year and still worked at most meetings at Ayr and other Scottish tracks," Iain Ferguson, head of public relations at Ayr, said. "He was treated after his collapse around the time of the second race on Saturday and was taken to hospital, where he sadly died later. Our thoughts and condolences go to his family at this very difficult time. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him. He was a lovely man."
Fellow bookmakers also paid tribute, including in a blog from Andy Stallard from CairnBet.
"I believe we have lost another stalwart of the ring, Tommy Morton, who was still laying favorites at age 90 and was on course today," Stallard said. "I had a few minutes with him before we pitched in and you could see the glint in his eye when he was asking me about Cheltenham next week, and you just knew he would've loved to go down there and get stuck into some of those short ones.
"Condolences to Billy and all his family and friends; we'll try to get Honeysuckle beaten in your honor on Tuesday, Tommy."
