In all his years in a fiercely competitive sport where making enemies is not difficult no one had a hard

In all his years in a fiercely competitive sport, where making enemies is not difficult, no one had a hard word to say about him.Several of the wiliest trainers of the post-war era were based not far away from his Basingstoke yard - Les Hall, R.C Sturdy, the great Bill Wightman. He was a clever trainer, and undoubtedly the canniest of gamblers when one of his charges was "right"; but there was nothing secretive about him. I have seen him stop what he was doing and answer every question in detail. Complete strangers would come up to him at the races and inquire about his chances that day. In these days of huge strings, millionaire owners, and inaccessible trainers, Holt had no difficulty in retaining the common touch.

Holt loved handicappers, but also trained the high-class two-year-olds Sweet Monday and, arguably his best horse, Argentum.Jack Holt was an immensely likeable, straightforward man. The latter was backed down from 66- 1 in 1992 in the 24 hours before the event, and found only the flying filly Lochsong too good. The Windsor executive named a race in her honour - it is still run today - and Quortina returned to win it in 1972.Holt's sprinters did him proud year after year. He began with a very fast horse, Epsom Imp, and many years later came close to winning the race he prized above almost any other, the Stewards Cup at Goodwood, with both Coppermill Lad and Duplicity.

The move to Tunworth Down came in the mid- Sixties, and Holt soon demonstrated that he was equally adept on the Flat. Most of his winners were sprinters, but in 1970 he sent out a charismatic middle- distance mare called Quortina to win five races in a row at the Windsor evening meetings. Holt backed him at 100-9, buying a new car and paying a year's bills with the winnings.He abandoned National Hunt racing when a favourite hurdler belonging to his wife, Ann, was killed in action. For many years he concentrated on jumpers, enjoying his greatest success when Stepherion won the George Duller Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 1965-66.