Christopher Bernard Catlin was born in Barnet on December 6, 1981, the son of a Ford car worker. He was apprenticed initially to Ken Ivory and then joined Mick Channon not long after leaving the British Racing School in 1998. He was champion apprentice in 2001 with 71 winners.
He rode 1,218 winners in Britain plus many others overseas. He achieved his biggest win in Germany on Regal Power in the 2006 German 2,000 Guineas. He also won a number of Group 3 races, including on Mick Channon’s Imperial Dancer. Another good horse with whom he was associated was Majestic Dubawi.
He enjoyed his best year in 2008 when notching 138 winners. He was champion jockey on the all-weather in successive seasons, 2007-08 and 2008-09.
Aged 34, he had his last ride at Chelmsford for Rae Guest in February 2016. He handed in his licence in July of that year to join Saeed Bin Suroor’s Godolphin operation as a work-rider.
