238 



RACING. 



that, although many finer horsemen than Elnathan Flatman or 

 'Nat ' have got into a racing saddle, there is no name more de- 

 serving of honour than that of the incorruptible rider of Orlando 

 in the Derby of 1844, of Voltigeur in the Doncaster Cup of 

 1850, and in the great match at York with the Flying Dutch- 

 man, in 1 85 1. He was born at Holton St. Mary, a village in 

 the south-eastern corner of Suffolk, in 1810, and made his way 

 to Newmarket as a very tiny boy in the spring of 1825. Good 

 fortune attended him from the first. Upon making application 



The Derby is generally won by the horse which strides farthest downhill. 



for employment in the stable of William Cooper (who was for 

 many years private trainer to General Peel, Lord Strafford, and 

 Captain Gardner) Nat was lucky enough to attract the favourable 

 notice of Mrs. Cooper, who persuaded her husband to give the 

 boy a chance. Of that ' chance ' the pages of the ' Racing Calen- 

 dar ' show what good use ' the boy ' was able to make. For 

 seven years — from 1846 to 1852 inclusive — Nat was always first 

 on the list of winning jockeys, and between 1830, when he first 

 began to catch the public eye, until 1859, w^hen he rode his 



