Born in Devon and educated at Sherborne School, Gilbert rode as an amateur while living in Kenya in the mid-1950s, and began his journalistic career as racing correspondent for the East African Field and Farm in 1956 before returning to Britain and writing for the Sunday Post in Scotland.
From the beginning of 1981 onwards, Graham Goode became ITV's number one commentator, and Gilbert now covered fewer major races.
His course commentaries continued, and he was a founder commentator with SIS in 1987, covering the Chester Cup on the day the service (which provided betting shops with live pictures of races) began.
However, he continued as a racecourse commentator (also heard on SIS and The Racing Channel) though he was due to soon retire at the time of his death.
A week before he was found dead in his flat in London, he had missed a commentating assignment (at Wolverhampton on 21 February) for the first time in his career.