Former Racecourse Holdings Trust managing director David Hillyard dies aged 86

David Hillyard, who was instrumental in the development of what would become Jockey Club Racecourses and also in the decision to run the Derby on a Saturday instead of its traditional Wednesday slot, has died at the age of 86.

Hillyard was managing director of Racecourse Holdings Trust (RHT) for ten years, during which time the Jockey Club subsidiary bought Epsom, Sandown and Kempton from the Levy Board through the acquisition of United Racecourses.

RHT beat off competition from media company Sunset & Vine and a consortium led by the late Sir Stan Clarke to complete the £30.25 million deal.

Former Cheltenham managing director Edward Gillespie worked with Hillyard during that period alongside Christopher Sporborg and Christopher Spence, who would both go on to chair RHT.

Gillespie said: "It was Christopher Sporborg, Christopher Spence, David and I who came in to acquire United Racecourses from the Levy Board and among other things shifted the Derby from a Wednesday to a Saturday. We did a heck of a lot in a very short period. David was the lynchpin of that period of modernisation.

"He was a lovely man. He was one of the good guys and I liked him from the first time I met him. He was very respectful. He was a keen racing man."

Hillyard, who had previously worked for BP, Debenhams and Whitbread, joined RHT in 1989.

The group, founded by the Jockey Club in 1964 to acquire Cheltenham, grew from eight to 12 tracks under Hillyard's stewardship with Huntingdon also added during his tenure.

Gillespie added: "He was a strategic thinker and was one of those guys who respected the past, was passionate about the present but had a very astute view of the future and where we needed to be going and what to focus on within our means. They were good times."

After retiring from RHT in 2000 Hillyard, who was also a director at Wincanton, was elected an honorary member of the Jockey Club.