William Buick Profile

This British-Norwegian rider has had majorsuccess in England and abroad, and is one of the leading jockeys on the world stage.

On top of his victory in the Epsom Derby, the other major victories under his belt include the Irish Derby twice, the Dubai Sheema Classic four times, the Arlington Million, five Breeders' Cup crowns, and various Group One's in France including the 2021 Grand Prix De Paris on Hurricane Lane, who he won the St Leger with in the same year.

He was crowned British Flat racing Champion Jockey for the first time in 2022.

Although synonymous with success in Britain, Buick was actually born in the Norwegian capital Oslo.

Horsemanship was in the blood. His father Walter was an eight-time Champion Jockey in Norway, while his mother Maria rode dressage.

Buick started riding racehorses aged 12 and spent his summer holidays at the yards of Reg Hollinshead, Marcus Tregoning and Andrew Balding. Back home in Scandinavia for the winter, the ambitious Buick used to brave sub-zero temperatures to ride out for the champion Norwegian trainer Wido Neuroth.

Like young pretender Oisin Murphy, Buick moved to Andrew Balding's Kingsclere yard as an apprentice after leaving school at 16. His diminutive stature and good balance made him a natural jockey, so much so that Balding placed a bet at odds of 500/1 on Buick becoming Champion Jockey by 2020.

Buick's first ride came in August 2006 on Tiny Tim for Balding in a selling handicap at Brighton in which the 18-year-old apprentice finished second.

His first winner arrived on Bank On Benny for Paul D'Arcy at Salisbury on September 27, 2006.

He produced the 8/1 shot in the Axeminster Carpets Apprentice Handicap and although he had hardly floored the highest quality of opposition the win gave him a base to build on.

Buick's debut season saw him pick up 10 wins including a Class 2 handicap at Wolverhampton on Heathyard's Pride while the numbers shot up to 67 wins in 2007 with prize money topping half a million pounds.

The 2008 season was a standout campaign for Buick as he engaged in a tooth and nail fight with fellow Balding apprentice David Probert for the crown of Champion Apprentice.

The 20-year-old Buick went up against the 19-year-old Probert with Probert having the advantage of a five pounds apprentice allowance after Buick had ridden out his claim.

The race for the title was neck and neck with Buick picking up a couple of nice listed races aboard Buccellati for Balding along the way. Eventually a dead heat was called with both jockeys on 50 wins, meaning Buick and Probert shared the title of Champion Apprentice for 2007/8.

Buick went toe-to-toe with the big boys in the weighing room during 2009 as he picked up the Weatherbys Insurance £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes on Swilly Ferry for Barry Hills. Buick prevailed at a hefty 16/1, making the young jockey a good shout for each-way backers.

Buick showed his willingness to traverse the globe in the search for top winners by taking the Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes at Woodbine in Canada on Lahaleeb for Mick Channon.

Buick was named stable jockey for top trainer John Gosden in 2010, barely four years after making his debut.

Buick's earnings for connections smashed through the million pound mark in 2010, winning the lucrative Dubai Sheema Classic aboard Dar Rey Me for Gosden.

He then went and added the Grade One Arlington Million on Debussy for Gosden before capping a stellar year by taking a first classic in the Doncaster St Leger aboard Arctic Cosmos for his patron Gosden.

However, it wasn't all plain sailing as Buick suffered a concussion after two falls as Meydan in the UAE in December 2010.

Buick had the full Gosden arsenal at his disposal in 2011, winning the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes with the talented Nathanial.

A second St Leger followed in September 2001 as Gosden's Masked Marvel swept to a three-length victory from Tom Dascombe's Brown Panther.

Buick reached his first tonne of winners by the end of the season, topping out 2011 with 106 victories and prize money of over £2.5million.

Buick starred at Royal Ascot in 2012 with five wins including in the Coronation Stakes where Fallen For You beat Gosden stablemate Starscope to scoop the £154,534 prize.

He then followed up with a series of stellar Group One's in 2012, winning the Coral-Eclipse Stakes on Nathanial and the Nunthorpe at York on Australian sprinter Ortensia. Buick's 130 winners saw him finish the season in a solid third in the jockeys' championship.

In 2013, Buick flew to regular stomping ground Meydan and came away with the Group One Jebel Hatta for Godolphin. He then took back-to-back Group One's in July 2013 with the talented filly Elusive Kate, first in the Falmouth at Newmarket and then in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville in France.

A Yorkshire Oaks followed in August 2013 aboard the Andrew Lloyd Webber owned Fugue at York.

By 2014, Buick had made his first million pounds from riding. A win in the Hanshin Gold Cup in Japan in December 2014 on Real Impact added to his kitty with the prize standing at a cool £380,580.

Buick had been on the radar of the flagging Godolphin empire for some time, winning the 2014 Middle Park Stakes in the blue silks for Sheikh Mohammed on Charming Thought.

Buick was named first rider for Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby in November 2014 with fellow 26-year-old James Doyle becoming retained rider for Saeed bin Suroor.

The arrangement meant that Buick and Doyle could swap, and Buick was fortunate enough to get a ride on Prince Bishop for alternative Godolphin trainer bin Suroor in the 2015 Dubai World Cup.

Prince Bishop ran on well for Buick securing a massive £3,846,153 prize to take back to Godolphin in Newmarket.

Buick produced a decent ride on Jack Hobbs in the 2015 Derby but just found Gosden stablemate Golden Horn too good on the day as he finished second at Epsom. However, he did go one better in the Irish Derby as Jack Hobbs won the Irish Classic at the Curragh by a good five lengths from Storm the Stars.

In 2016, Buick helped a resurgent Godolphin operation to a Coral-Eclipse Stakes as Hawkbill prevailed at Sandown by half a length from The Gurkha.

Further big wins in the blue silks of Godolphin came in the Dubai Sheema Classic on Jack Hobbs in March 2017, Wuheida for Appleby in the Breeders' Cup Filly, and Mare Turf at Del Mar in November 2017.

A third Dubai Sheema Classic came in March 2018 when Hawkbill beat Sir Michael Stoute's Poet's Word under Buick. But that was just a warm up for the big one at Epsom.

Buick has sprung some big price surprises throughout his career, but few were as impactful as Masar's 16/1 win in the 2018 Epsom Derby.

Aidan O'Brien's Saxon Warrior was the hot 4/5 favourite at the tip of a five-pronged Ballydoyle attack.

But Buick seized his chance to impose himself at racing's top table in Britain's premier classic.

Buick has Cape Cross colt Masar tucked away in midfield and even took the liberty of ploughing a wide furrow round Tattenham Corner before pushing Masar to a one and half-length win from the Mark Johnston trained Dee Ex Bee.

Not content with his Epsom Derby win, Buick got up on a five-furlong bullet in Blue Point to win the King's Stand Stakes for Godolphin at Royal Ascot in 2018.

The Nassau Stakes followed at Glorious Goodwood in August 2018 as Buick continued Godolphin's resurgence on 4/1 winner Wild Illusion for Appleby.

Indeed, the Grade One winners kept on coming internationally too, with Buick claiming the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs on Line Of Duty in November 2018.

Just a couple of weeks later, Buick had flown to Kyoto in Japan to contest the Mile Championship again, coming away victorious on Stelvio for local trainer Tetsuya Kimura.

However, Buick got a serious slap across the wrists when being banned for six weeks for reckless riding in the Hong Kong vase aboard Pakistan Star.

The 2019 season started better for Buick as he won a fourth Dubai Sheema Classic on Old Persian at Meydan. The race comes with a not insubstantial prize of £2,834,646, meaning that Buick had raked in over £10 million for connections with his quartet of victories in the UAE.

Further money-spinning wins came in the 2019 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket where Pinatubo won the Group One race valued at over £300,000 for the winner. Then Buick popped over to Japan again in November 2019 to take a Grade Two with a first prize just ten grand short of half a million pounds in the Sports Nippon Sho Stayers Stakes on Mondo Intero.

The talented Goldolphin colt Ghaiyyath was brought into Buick's orbit in 2020, with the pair picking up the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown and seeing off the wonder-mare Enable in the process.

Ghaiyyath then went on to win the Juddmonte International Stakes at York in August 2020, capping off a wonderful summer for the horse rated the best in the world.

With 2021 affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Buick was still able to dominate mega-money events such as the UAE Derby, worth over £300,000 and won by the talented jockey aboard Rebel's Romance at Meydan.

By June, a Frankel colt called Hurricane Lane had swept into the sport and Buick steered the relentless galloper to a neck win from Lone Eagle in the Irish Derby at the Curragh.

Buick then took Hurricane Lane to the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp where a six-length victory on soft ground showed the versatility of Godolphin's next star attraction.

In October 2021, Buick steered Hurricane Lane home in the St Leger and ended the season with a haul of nine Group 1 wins.

However, it wasn't enough to claim the Champion Jockey crown and for the second consecutive season on the trot he finished behind winner Oisin Murphy, this time by an agonising two wins.

With Murphy banned until February 2023, for breaching coronavirus protocols, misleading the BHA and two alcohol offences, Buick had a clearer run at the crown that had evaded him so far.

At the age of 34 he dominated the championship from the outset and finished 67 clear of nearest pursuers Hollie Doyle and Tom Marquand whilst recording his best ever domestic total.

His Group 1 highlights included Royal Ascot success on Coroebus in the St James's Palace Stakes and Lezoo in Newmarket's Cheveley Park Stakes, as well as a pile of big-race wins across Europe and North America.

Buick said: "It is great and personally it's something I've really wanted to achieve for quite a long time and obviously it's taken me a few years, but it's fantastic.

"My father was an eight-time Champion Jockey in Scandinavia so it's great to be able to achieve it and I feel I've achieved it in the way that I would like to do it - to balance it with the big races, the big meetings, my main employer Godolphin, making sure that's at the forefront of my focus.

"It's very satisfying and, when every jockey starts out, that's what you want to achieve - you want to win the Derby and you want to become Champion Jockey."

William Buick's married his partner Jane Duncan in 2021, and they have a son called Thomas.

Buick is fluent in English, Norwegian, Danish, and German.

Away from racing Buick enjoys playing tennis.

William Buick's net worth is reported to be £2.8million.