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.
