Jockey

Suffolk-born Elnathan ‘Nat’ Flatman had the distinction of being the first official British Champion Flat Jockey, taking the inaugural title in 1846 and retaining it until 1853, when he was succeeded by John ‘Tiny’ Wells. Indeed, in winning his third consecutive title, in 1948, he rode 104 winners, thereby becoming the first jockey to reach three figures in a single season.

Initially apprenticed to Newmarket trainer William Cooper at age of 15, Flatman did not make his racecourse debut until April 20, 1829, when he finished unplaced on Gold Pin, owned by Lord Exeter, in the Craven Stakes. Nevertheless, as his career progressed, he would enjoy the patronage of several leading owners up and down the country, including the likes of Lord George Bentinck, Lord Chesterfield, Lord Derby and Lord Zetland.

Flatman rode his first British Classic winner, Preserve, owned by Charles Greville, in the 1,000 Guineas in 1835, and went on the win the first fillies’ Classic of the season twice more, on Clementina in 1847 and Imperieuse in 1857. He also won the 2,000 Guineas and the St. Leger three times apiece, but his one and only Derby “victory”, on Orlando in 1844, came under controversial circumstances, when the first past the post, “Running Rein”, was subsequently discovered to be the ineligible four-year-old Maccabaeus. Classics aside, his career tally included a sackful of high-profile victories, such as the Cambridgeshire (four times), Cesarewitch (twice), Stewards’ Cup (twice) and Goodwood Cup (twice).

Described in his epitaph as an “honest, sober, discrete and plain-living man”, Flatman rode for a total of 31 seasons, but, in 1859, suffered a series of injuries that brought about the end of his career and, ultimately, his untimely demise. He died of consumption, or turbeculosis, at Woodditton, in East Cambridgeshire, on August 20, 1860, aged just 50.

Richard ‘Richie’ McLernon hails from Churchtown, near Mallow, County Cork and is, of course, the nephew of Tommy Carmody, who won the Irish Jump Jockeys’ Championship twice, in 1985 and 1988. He rode his first winner, of any description, Killultagh Thunder, trained by Adrian Maguire, on Punchestown Point-to-Point Course on February 13, 2005 and added four more ‘point winners, all trained by Maguire, during his last year at school. After completing his education, aged 18, McLernon joined Lombardstown trainer Eugene O’Sullivan, for whom he rode his first winner under Rules, Teo Perugo, in a handicap chase at Tralee on June 20, 2006.

After riding half a dozen winners under Rules in his native land, four in 2006/07 and two in 2007/08, McLernon sought to further his career by crossing the Irish Sea to join Jonjo O’Neill in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. His initial two-week trial proved successful and, having ridden his first winner on British soil, Castlecrossings, owned by John Patrick ‘J.P.’ McManus and trained by O’Neill, in a mares’ novices’ hurdle at Towcester on October 28, 2007, McLernon has been a fixture at Jackdaws Castle ever since.

McLernon, 37, enjoyed his most successful season so far, numerically and fiscally, in 2023/24, when he rode 39 winners from 339 rides, at a strike rate of 12%, and amassed nearly £397,000 in total prize money. At the time of writing, he lies ninth in the 2024/25 British Jump Jockeys’ Champopmship, having ridden 14 winners from 92 rides, at a strike rate of 15%.

McLernon has three Cheltenham Festival winners to his name, namely Alfie Sherrin, in the JLT Specialty Handicap Chase in 2012 and Holywell, twice, in the Petemps Final in 2013 and the
Baylis & Harding Affordable Luxury Handicap Chase in 2014. He has never won the Grand National, but came closer than most when touched off by the minimum margin, a nose, on Sunnyhillboy in 2012.

Born in Heywood, Preston on May 11, 1957, Jimmy Bleasdale did not come from a racing background, but harboured the ambition to become a jockey from an early age. As a 16-year-old, he became apprenticed to Sam Hall at Spigot Lodge in Middleham, North Yorkshire – on the recommendation of neighbouring trainer Tommy Fairhurst – and, after attending the Levy Board Apprentice School, duly made a winning racecourse debut on Croisette at Redcar on April 24, 1975.

After riding three winners from 24 rides in his first season and 17 from 99 in his second, Bleasdale rode 67 winners in 1977, including the Ebor Handicap at York – arguably the highest-profile victory of his career – on Move Over, trained by Jack Calvert, on his way to becoming champion apprentice. Sam Hall died that year and Bleasdale opted to remain loyal to his successor, Chris Thornton, at Spigot Lodge, rather than heading south to further his career.

However, Bleasdale never really fulfilled his earlier potential. The combination of a virus at Spigot Lodge and a series of falls, including a particularly serious one at Haydock Park in 1981, which would ultimately sound the death knell for his competitive riding career, limited his opportunities. In what he later described as a ‘horrible experience’, his mount, Bally Seal, fell fatally and, in so doing, threw head first into a concrete post, putting him out of action for four months. Bleasdale recovered sufficiently to continue riding for another decade, with no little success, including back-to-back victories in the Singapore Derby at Bukit Timah on Andermatt in 1983 and Win-Em-All in 1984.

In 1991, the onset of epilepsy, as a result of brain damage suffered in his earlier fall, meant that Bleasdale was not longer allowed to ride competitively. At the time of his retirement, he had ridden 414 winners.

Born in Old Chesterton, Cambridgeshire on September 24, 1837, George Fordham was a force majeure in British Flat racing in the second half of the nineteenth century. All told, he was Champion Jockey 14 times in the 17-year period between 1855 and 1871, including the final title that he shared with Charlie Maidment in 1871. When he retired from the saddle, for the second and final time, in 1884, he had ridden a total of 2,587 winners, including 14 British Classic winners.

Indeed, over a century and a quarter after his death, on October 12, 1887, Fordham remains the most successful jockey in the history of the 1,000 Guineas, having won the first fillies’ Classic of the season a total of seven times, on Mayonnaise (1859), Nemesis (1861), Siberia (1865), Formosa (1868), Scottish Queen (1869), Thebais (1881) and Hauteur (1883). He also won the Oaks five times, the 2,000 Guineas three times and, famously, his one and only Derby – having recovered from alcoholism and near bankruptcy – on St Bevys, owned by Lionel de Rothschild, in 1879, at the age of 41.

Fordham had just turned 14 when he rode his first winner, Hampton, for Lewes-based trainer Richard Drewitt, in the Trial Stakes at Brighton in October 1851. However, he first received wider attention when, in 1853, he rode Little David to a wide-margin victory in the Cambridgeshire Handicap at Newmarket. The following season, Fordham won the Chester Cup, or the Chester Tradesman’s Cup, as the race was known at the time, on Epaminondas, owned by Captain Douglas Lane, and the one after that, 1855, won his first jockeys’ title with a relativelylow seasonal total of 70 winners.

Popularly known as ‘Demon’ because of his success, Fordham was, nonetheless, a handsome, modest and good-natured, renowned for his scrupulous honesty and aversion to gambling. Failing health forced his first retirement in 1875, but he returned to the saddle to win the sforementioned Derby in 1879 and rode the best part of another 500 winners vefore hanging up his boots for good.