RACECOURSE bosses are planning a tribute to a talented young Scots jockey who died suddenly.
Campbell Gillies drowned in a swimming pool in June within hours of arriving on holiday at the resort of Kavos on the Greek island Corfu the day before his 22nd birthday.
The jump jockey, brother of Glasgow Warriors rugby hooker Finlay Gillies, had his biggest win of his career at the Cheltenham Festival three months earlier.
First Minister Alex Salmond, a horse-racing fan, was among those who paid tribute to Gillies after the accident, describing his death as "a huge blow to Scottish sport".
About 600 mourners, including Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill and former Scotland football manager Craig Levein, attended Gillies's funeral at Mortonhall Crematorium in Edinburgh in July.
Senior officials at one racecourse in the north of England have already named a new accommodation block after Gillies, who rode his first and last winners at the course, and the same course is now planning to name an annual race in his memory. Officials at Hexham in Northumberland are due to make a decision in the coming weeks, when they meet to discuss next year's calendar.
Gillies was born in Haddington, East Lothian, and primarily rode for Perth-based trainer Lucinda Russell, after joining her team in 2007.
A race was held in his name this autumn at a special memorial day at Hexham. It was won by Lucky Sunny, a horse trained by Russell and ridden by Peter Buchanan, a close friend of Gillies. Gillies's mother Lesley opened the new accommodation block, the Campbell Gillies Lodge, just before the race meeting.
The jockey's former agent Paul Brierley said an annual race in his memory at Hexham would be a fitting tribute.
"The Campbell Gillies Memorial Chase was held at Hexham as part of a memorial day for Campbell," he added. "It was a very emotional day. I wouldn't be surprised if the race now becomes an annual event.
"I would think Hexham would try their very best to do it every year as Campbell was very popular and well-respected."
He added: "He had huge potential. He was one of the leading jockeys in the north by a long way. He was hugely talented."
A golf event in his memory at Close House Golf Course, near Newcastle, Tyneside, in September raised £15,000 for the Injured Jockeys' Fund. The fund supported Gillies's family as well as his friends in Corfu after the fatal accident.
Gillies rode Brindisi Breeze to victory in the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, the highlight on the jump-racing calendar, in March this year and had won 131 races during his racing career, including 38 last season.
Brindisi Breeze was killed in May when he jumped out of a paddock and was hit by a lorry on a nearby road.
A spokeswoman for Hexham Racecourse said: "We will be looking at all our races for next year and we will certainly take that one [the Campbell Gillies Chase] into consideration."
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