William Buick

Buick was born in Norway in 1988, where his Scottish-born father, Walter, was Scandinavian champion jockey on eight occasions and his Danish mother, Maria, a dressage rider and showjumper.

"[1] Fluent in Norwegian, Danish, English and German, Buick was a regular visitor to the UK, where he spent summer holidays riding out for trainers Reg Hollinshead, Marcus Tregoning and Andrew Balding.

[2] Buick's first win came on the Paul D’Arcy trained Bank on Benny at Salisbury on 27 September 2006 and by the end of the year he had ridden ten winners, leading Ian Balding to say "without question he is the best apprentice we have ever had.

[5] In October 2009 Buick won his first Group 1 race, the E. P. Taylor Stakes in Woodbine, Canada, on Lahaleeb for trainer Mick Channon.

His other Group 1 victory in Ireland came on Izzi Top in the Pretty Polly Stakes, on whom he also won the Prix Jean Romanet in France later that year.

He achieved his first Group 1 success for Godolphin on the Saeed bin Suroor trained Sajjhaa in the Jebel Hatta at Meydan.

[11] In October, Buick rode the Charlie Appleby trained colt Charming Thought to victory in the Middle Park Stakes, giving Godolphin their first British Group 1 win of the season.

[17] Later that month Buick's ride on Space Age in the King George V Stakes gave Appleby his first Royal Ascot victory.

[18] Buick's third Group 1 win of the year was achieved in October in the Middle Park Stakes on Lumiere, trained by Mark johnston for Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum.

[11] The year started well for Buick with victories at Meydan on Tryster in the Dubai Millennium Stakes and Jebel Hatta.

[11] At the end of June Buick was handed a 15-day suspension when Highlands Queen, his mount in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) at Chantilly, was judged to have caused interference.

[19] In October there was a more fortunate return to Chantilly when two-year-old Wuheida won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac.

[11] In September it was announced that Buick would replace Doyle as first pick jockey for Godolphin trainer bin Suroor.

[20] In March Buick achieved his second victory in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan, this time on Jack Hobbs.

[11] Racing In August he suffered a compression fracture of a vertebra when he fell from Permian, who broke a leg and was destroyed at the end of the Secretariat Stakes in Chicago.

He returned from injury in October, and in November won the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf in California on Wuheida.

The year ended on a disappointing note when he received a six-week ban for reckless riding in the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin.

[11] Buick rode Barney Roy to victory in the Jebel Hatta at Meydan in March, before racing closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After racing resumed behind closed doors in the United Kingdom in June, he rode Pinatubo into third place in the postponed 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

[11] Buick picked up a spare ride for Ballydoyle in the Derby, coming third on 66/1 outsider Amhran Na Bhfiann, beaten six lengths by stablemate Serpentine.

In August Space Blues won the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville and Ghaiyyath was victorious in the International Stakes at York.

[26] It later emerged that Murphy had ridden eleven winners when he should have been self-isolating under COVID regulations after returning from a holiday in Greece in September 2020.

[27] Buick completed another successful year with nine European Group 1 wins, eight of them for Appleby, including the Irish Derby, the Grand Prix de Paris and the St Leger on Hurricane Lane, and the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes on the two-year-old Native Trail.

In addition to his nine European Group 1 wins, Buick won three Grade 1 races at the Breeders' Cup meeting in the United States in November.

[31] Over the calendar year he achieved a double century of winners in Great Britain for the first time, at a strike rate of 27 per cent.