This British-Norwegian rider has had majorsuccess in England and abroad, and is one of the leading jockeys on the world stage.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Aidan O'Brien's Saxon Warrior was the hot 4/5 favourite at the tip of a five-pronged Ballydoyle attack.
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.
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.
OLD PERSIAN WINS G1 DUBAI SHEEMA CLASSIC 🇦🇪@Godolphin, Charlie Appleby and William Buick land their third win of the night as Old Persian runs out a smart winner of the penultimate race on @DubaiWorldCup night 🔵 #DWC19pic.twitter.com/yo1m7Rb5Ku
— World Horse Racing (@WHR) March 30, 2019
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.
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.
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.
In 2023, Buick was crowned champion jokcey again, with highlights coming in the Lockinge Stakes with Modern Games, the Futurity Trophy with Ancient Wisdom and the Breeders' Cup Mile with Master Of The Seas.
Buick made a cracking start to the 2024 campaign, by winning his first 2000 Guineas with 16/1 chance Notable Speech.
Notable Speech did not run as a juvenile and had only raced on the all-weather prior to his Classic success, winning each of his three outings at Kempton.
He said: “I’ve never won the 2000 Guineas before, so it’s really special to do it and Notable Speech is a very, very good horse.
“He took a different route into the Guineas, I would say he was a late bloomer, but he did everything right today.
“I’ve not known him for that long, I came back from Dubai and rode him in February and here we are, but I’ve not often believed in a horse as much as I have this guy.
“I’ve had that much belief in him, sometimes you go home at night and think you have lost the plot altogether!
“That’s just how he does things, he finds it so easy and his change of gear is incredible. I’m over the moon.
“He’s an out-and-out miler, he’s got a lot of speed and I really think he’s a horse that’s going to keep improving as well.”
William Buick's married his partner Jane Duncan in 2021, and they sons called Thomas and Oscar
William Buick's net worth is reported to be £2.8million.
We always know the end of the Flat season is nigh when the Cesarewitch rolls around, and this year’s edition looks like being another pinstickers’ paradise (or nightmare).
The Flat season is bowing out with a flourish with some big prizes up for grabs at Friday’s Newmarket meeting, where the last race on the card is sure to send some lucky punters home happy.
Rebel’s Romance showed plenty of spirit to regain the prestigious Preis von Europa trophy in Cologne.
Day one of Doncaster’s St Leger meeting has some mouthwatering races lined up, including this huge field of capable two-year-olds competing for the biggest purse on Thursday’s card.
Vauban open his account for the season in the Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup at York holding off a late surge from Al Nayyir.
Tucked away in another bumper Ebor card is this wide-open nursery handicap, with the 17 promising two-year-olds sure to provide a thrilling seven-furlong contest for York’s race-goers to enjoy.
A busy Friday at the races concludes with this tasty-looking six-furlong sprint that should give Newmarket’s evening race-goers plenty to talk about as they make their way home.
