Nat Flatman

Elnathan "Nat" Flatman (1810 – 20 August 1860), born Holton St. Mary, Suffolk, was the first Champion flat racing jockey of Great Britain. He began his thirty-four-year racing career as an apprentice jockey at age fifteen and by 1840 he was the dominant rider in British racing, winning the Champion Jockey title thirteen years in a row. During his career, Flatman won the patronage of many significant owners, including Lord George Bentinck, the Earl of Chesterfield, Admiral Rous, Lord Stradbroke and Lord Derby. For these owners, and others like them he won most of the important Thoroughbred horse races in England, including ten Classics, and some significant races in France. He continued to ride until the paddock accident that incapacitated him and ultimately led to his death at the age of 50.

Early life St. Mary's Church, Holton St. Mary, the village where Flatman was born Flatman was born in Holton St. Mary, Suffolk in 1810 to a father who was a smallholder. In his youth, the family moved 10 miles north to the village of Bildeston, where they got to know a local horse breeder by the name of Wilson. Wilson had been responsible for breeding the renowned horse, Smolensko, winner of the 1813 2,000 Guineas and Derby and the young Flatman began to spend a lot of time there, formulating ideas of becoming a jockey.