
William Buick notched his 2,000th British winner with a superb ride aboard El Cordobes in the Princess Of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday.
Initially sat off the pace set by Palladium, Charlie Appleby’s charge was nudged along by Buick before being switched to the left hand side, manoeuvring right around the field to join Wimbledon Hawkeye and fellow Godolphin runner Arabian Crown.
With a furlong to go, the son of Frankel accelerated through the gears, striding on for a facile success in the feature race of day one at Newmarket’s July meeting.
Speaking to the media, Buick said: “I haven’t been counting down but when I was told it was single figures to go I’ve taken notice.
“I’m very proud, it’s thanks to a lot of people. Thanks to my family first and foremost, you can’t do it without them. And thanks to all the trainers, owners and stable staff, everyone who’s helped me over the years.
“Look it’s a great achievement, it’s been hanging over me for a while so to do it in the Princess Of Wales at the July meeting for Charlie Appleby and Godolphin means the world.”
Attached to the Andrew Balding stable after regular visits to Britain as a child, Buick had his first ride in August 2006 on the Park House Stables-trained Tiny Tim at Brighton, finishing a creditable second in a selling Handicap contest. With his obvious ability apparent, he and fellow Balding prodigy David Probert began to pick up more and more rides, competing with each other for the Champion Apprentice crown in 2008.
After being named as Apprentice Jockey Of The Year for the second successive year in 2008, Buick turned professional. It wouldn’t be long before he was riding winners at the top level, notching his first Group 1 victory in the E.P Taylor Stakes at Woodbine in October 2009 aboard Lahaleeb.
He would gain his first big break on British soil the following year, when he became stable jockey for John Gosden following the sacking of previous incumbent Jimmy Fortune. The winners soon started to flow too, with the duo bringing home the 2010 renewals of the Sheema Classic (Dar Re Mi), Arlington Million (Debussy) and St Leger (Arctic Cosmos) – the jockey’s first Classic win.
From there, Buick went from strength to strength. He amassed a century of winners in a calendar year for the first time in 2011 before winning nine top-level contests worldwide in the 12 months that followed. A maiden Group 1 crown in the Godolphin blue with Sajjhaain in the 2013 Jebel Hatta sewed the seeds for a permanent association with the UAE owners, by whom he was signed as Charlie Appleby’s first choice in November 2014.
A near-miss in the 2015 Derby was avenged with glory in the Irish equivalent on Jack Hobbs, before Buick secured Charlie Appleby’s first Royal Ascot crown – steering home Space Age in the King George V Stakes.
Despite a suspension as a result of an outburst following a controversial renewal of the 2016 Prix de Diane, Buick would become Godolphin number one outright in the latter months of that year, replacing James Doyle as Saeed bin Suroor’s top jockey.
The Norwegian recovered from a compression fracture of a vertebra in timely fashion to strike aboard Wuheida in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf before enjoying the defining moment of his career to date in the 2018 Derby, when Masar defied odds of 16/1 to win the Derby on the Epsom Downs.
Further Classic glory followed in the 2021 St Leger aboard Hurricane Lane before incredible individual campaigns in 2022 and 2023 were rewarded with the British Flat Champion Jockey trophy. After winning the 2024 2,000 Guineas on Notable Speech, Buick returned to Newmarket for a stellar weekend twelve months later – becoming just the first jockey in a decade to win the Guineas double on the Rowley Mile.
After partnering Trawlerman to a rampant victory in the Ascot Gold Cup last month, Buick will soon be turning his attention to Glorious Goodwood where he is set to step in for the ride on St James’s Palace hero Field Of Gold due to a suspension for Juddmonte’s retained rider, Colin Keane.
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