David Mcharg

DAVID McHarg, who died recently aged 54, was a larger than life character whose name will forever be etched in the history of Scottish racing.

Both his father Bill and grandfather Alec served as Clerks of the course at Ayr - a post David also held for a number of years until 1992.David studied at Fettes in Edinburgh and later studied law at university only to drop out after a year to pursue is love of rallying. He had been seen driving round the inner road at Ayr Racecourse since the age of 12 ferrying jockeys and race officials around the track.In the mid-1970s he teamed up with the then Scottish rally champion Drew Gallacher from Girvan and they competed at the top level in Britain and Europe, while McHarg won the Scotsman Trophy for best co-driver in successive years, 1978-79.But David was born into horse racing because of the family connections and it was obvious he would follow the family tradition and in 1980 he became a trainee Clerk of the Course at Ascot. When he obtained his Jockey Club licence later that year he teamed up with his father at Musselburgh.

In 1986 he laid out the jumping course at Musselburgh, making it the first course in Britain to use portable fences all round, while he also broke new ground in 1987 when he took on and trained up Britain's first female clerk of the course in Morag Chalmers (now Gray), who took over from him at Hamilton the following year.

He brought in the UK's first electronic number boards, in 1988, at Ayr and Hamilton, and at the same time pioneered the use of sectional timing, albeit for only a limited period, at Ayr.

David was also the first to split a major handicap into two divisions to give the increasing number of horses that were being eliminated from the Ayr Gold Cup (to meet the safety limit) a consolation race for a Silver Cup.

As general manager and secretary of the Western Meeting Club which runs Ayr, David raised the profile of racing north of the border to an all-time high. But in 1992 he left Scotland to take up an appointment as Racing Administration Manager of the Bukit Timah Turf Club in Singapore.

After fulfilling his three-year contract to train up a local man for his job, he returned to Britain in 1997 to take over the Peter Savill-owned courses of Fontwell and Plumpton.

In recent years David fought a valiant battle against cancer. He is survived by his second wife Myrna and two sons and a daughter.

Alan Macdonald, Chairman of Ayr Racecourse, said he was saddened to hear of David's death.

He said : "David McHarg played a massive role in the development of Ayr Racecourse and will be long remembered for his association with his home track.

"He was respected throughout the racing industry and his place in the history of not only Ayr Racecourse but Scottish racing in general is guaranteed. He was Clerk of the Course at all five Scottish tracks and was instrumental in putting Scottish racing firmly on the map.

"On a personal note I invited him as my guest to the course after Richard Johnstone and I became the owners and I found him to be a veritable fountain of knowledge regarding Ayr Racecourse and horse racing in general. He was an affable man and it was great to be in his company.

"His loss will be felt right across the racing industry and our thoughts are with his family at this sad time."

David Mcharg

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