He was the son of Thomas Panton (1697–1782), master of the king's running-horses at Newmarket, Suffolk.
[1][2] Thomas Panton the younger lived as a country gentleman at Fen Ditton in Cambridgeshire.
He was an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate for Cambridgeshire after the death in 1770 of John Manners, Marquess of Granby.
[1][2] His chief reputation was gained as an owner of racehorses; he was a member of the Jockey Club in 1753, within a few years of its foundation, and figured conspicuously on the turf until his death.
Charles Pigott, in his satire The Jockey Club (1792) could find no harm to say of him, describing him a "truly well-bred, agreeable, good-humoured man".