In a long career Claude Harrison was a racing journalist for the Western Mail, Newcastle Journal and the Aberdeen Press & Journal amongst others.
He was a popular figure with his press room colleagues. He was respected for his ability to successfully nap some long shots at the end of the season when heavy ground and big fields make winner-spotting even more problematic than usual. At a ceremony in his honour soon after retiring at the end of 1965 he was described as “one of the most honourable, hard-working journalists who has been dedicated to racing throughout the whole of his 53 years’ career”. One of the bookmakers who was present admitted, “we are pleased his innings is over but like all master batsmen he is worthy of a great tribute and bookmakers have never been slow to appreciate his class. Although his half century of winner-finding often hit us for six, we can still pay tribute to his extraordinary talent in giving long-priced winners.” Harrison was the first retired journalist to be given a Jockey Club pass to every racecourse in the country. Sadly, he had little opportunity to use it. He died little over a year later, in April 1967.
His friends and colleagues subscribed to a memorial trophy in the form of a racehorse on a plinth. This was presented to the winner of a new race at Haydock named after him on 3 November, the first day of the final flat meeting of the season. Harrison lived at Salford and Haydock was his local track. The Claude Harrison Memorial Challenge Trophy, a 1m4f handicap usually run in August, ended in 1999, when its swan-song was as a nursery.