The “Wizard of Mordialloc" was a renowned and esteemed horse trainer who successfully nurtured and developed numerous exceptional racehorses throughout their careers

The man the racing world would come to know as Jack Holt was born in November 1879 in the then Victorian country village of Berwick, about 27 miles southeast of Melbourne. Born to Irish immigrants, Mary and Michael Holt, he was named Michael, although he adopted the name Jack. The financial challenges faced by the family had a profound impact on the youngest son, instilling in him a deep appreciation for financial stability and the security it provides. When he was sixteen he left his employment delivering mail with the postal service to train racehorses and ponies. He won his first metropolitan race with Flying Fox but was content in the early days to place his horses at meetings in the Gippsland district. In these years Holt made intermittent visits to the city racecourses, but trained on the local Beaconsfield course. Among the horses that won races for him in those early days were Iona, a useful filly by Malvolio, and a handy hurdler in Accumulator.

It was in the winter of 1908 that he rented stables at Epsom and subsequently made Mordialloc his permanent home, There he built "Lethe" for himself and his two sisters, Margaret and Catherine. Holt secured his first good horse, Carette that gave the rising young trainer his first big success when she won the 1911 Standish Handicap at Flemington on New Year’s Day. Meerut was another galloper that Holt retained from the owner, going on to win seventeen races, further enhancing the young trainers credentials. During the years of WWI, Jack Holt went from strength to strength with his small but growing team. Horses such as Sir Ibex, Lancer Plume, Ludovitch, Telecles, Aislabie and Jemlah won him a string of races, and the bookmakers were wary of any Holt-trained galloper. As Australia emerged from World War I, Jack Holt won his first Victorian trainers’ premiership in 1918-19 with no less than 43 winners. Over the next sixteen seasons, he would be the leading trainer twelve times.

Because of this success he was dubbed "The Wizard of Mordialloc". By the time Eurythmic came to Mordialloc during the winter of 1920, Jack Holt and Frank Dempsey had forged one of the most successful trainer-jockey partnerships in Victorian racing history. In a remarkable season that comprised 13 starts, the pair’s only loss came in the 1920 Melbourne Cup, when, carrying 9st. 4lb, Eurythmic could merely finish fourth behind Poitrel.

Some of his successful horses were: Eurythmic, Heroic, Mistico, Sir Ibex, Lilypond, Second Wind, Chanak and Easingwold. Hall Mark won the 1937 AJC Derby and Holt repeated the dose with Avenger in 1937. Heroic was also brilliant, winning 21 races and amassing £38,000 in stake earnings. With these horses he won most of Australia's most important races including the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, St Leger Stakes, Victorian Derby, Sydney Cup, W. S. Cox Plate the Doncaster Handicap and Newmarket Handicap. It was claimed his horses won him over £500,000 in stakes during his career. The jockeys who rode for him included Frank Dempsey, Bill Duncan, Bill Foulsham, 'Darby' Munro, Theo Lewis, Bill Williamson and 'Scobie' Breasley.

Financially very successful as a trainer and investor, Jack Holt was very generous to many individuals and several institutions. The Holt family gave prizes for school achievement to the pupils of St Brigid's school Mordialloc and provided an annual picnic for all the students. On his death the Jack Holt Medical Research Endowment was established by his estate which was valued at £228,840, a considerable sum in 1951.