William Buick: "Being Champion Jockey drives me"

William Buick will be crowned 2023 Champion Flat Jockey for the second successive year on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday 21st October.

The 35-year-old has an unassailable lead heading into the final days of the title race and retains the crown he won in runaway style last year, albeit he will not match the 157 winners he accumulated 12 months ago. His current tally stands 134*.

Oisin Murphy, Tom Marquand and Rossa Ryan are Buick’s nearest pursuers, but the trio have given vain chase for much of the title race, which began on May 6. Three-time champion Murphy currently occupies second place with 104 winners. The 2023 Flat Jockeys’ Championship runs from May 6 – Oct 21.

Great British Racing recently produced a moving film showing five-year-old Thomas Buick’s perspective of his father’s achievements. The video explores his challenges with autism. Watch below:

Speaking on the title race and highlights of the season, Buick said: “Retaining the Championship has been a real highlight, but it has been a very different season, no season is the same, when you set the bar high the expectations are there. Even though the season has been different my ambition was to retain the Championship and work hard for it, which I have done.”

He continued: “Last year I had lot of good winners including Classics and this year has been slightly different but none the less this season has been a success. I have had lot of domestic and international rides which are never an easy thing to balance when going for a Championship, but like last year I have managed to get that right, and already we are looking forward to next year.”

In an interview with Great British Racing, Buick was asked what drives him. The Newmarket-based jockey said: “Being Champion Jockey drives me, no question about it. I also think that I am at a point in my career where I think why not keep doing it. I enjoy going racing, the winners, the support, and I enjoy being Champion Jockey.”

“The big races, the Classics, the Derbys, the big Group 1s, the festivals and Royal Ascot are the pinnacle of the sport and that is how we showcase ourselves and the best horses. Being Champion Jockey is great and it should be on everyone’s list, but I have been privileged to race in the big meetings for a while as well and those are the moments that sell our sport.”

Buick, who finished runner-up in 2015, 2020 and 2021, has secured back-to-back titles despite his principal employer, Charlie Appleby, being less prolific than in 2022.

Appleby provided Buick with 89 of his winners last year (about 57 per cent of his total winners), but this time has been responsible for 59 of his tally (44 per cent of his total winners). Since March, Buick has ridden for 87 trainers, with more than 40 providing him with at least one winner.

Highlights have been the Appleby-trained Modern Games winning the Group 1 Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes, at Newbury in May, and other pattern victories on such as Adayar, Dramatised, Equality, Castle Way, Inquisitively, Ancient Wisdom, Arabian Crown and Highland Avenue. Buick has also enjoyed more high-profile victories on foreign shores, including top-level wins in Germany and Canada.

Buick enjoyed a tremendous patch at the end of August where he rode six successive winners – two of them on the final day of York’s Dante meeting followed by a 442/1 four-timer at Yarmouth. And the day before his York double, he had ridden a treble at Newmarket.

The Norwegian-born rider kept up the momentum when he chalked up 32 winners last month – a monthly tally he has previously beaten only twice in his 17-year career. He is also closing in on 500 winners in Britain for Appleby, requiring just one more to reach that landmark. Overall, he has ridden an impressive tally of 1,834 winners in Britain.

The early stages of this year’s title race suggested a prolonged battle might be on the cards with Murphy, Joe Fanning and Buick almost inseparable at the end of June.

However, Murphy picked up a lengthy suspension at Royal Ascot and never recovered his momentum, while Fanning faded out of the picture. By contrast, Buick almost averaged a winner per day in July and August to gradually ease clear.

Ryan is guaranteed a place in the top four for the first time, with an impressive strike-rate of 19 per cent. He savoured Group One glory aboard the Julie Camacho-trained Shaquille in the Pertemps Network July Cup and has been buoyed by trainer Ralph Beckett, his principal employer, having a fabulous season.

Marquand has continued to ride winners on a consistent basis and achieved a notable personal landmark last month when achieving his 1,000th British winner. His wife, Hollie Doyle, has again been the most successful female jockey and is on course to finish fifth in the table.

Two former champions, Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori, never figured in the battle to win the title but have enjoyed memorable campaigns.

Moore’s 46 winners have accumulated more than £7 million in prize money, a figure he’s exceeded only twice before on British shores, in 2016 and 2017, when having far more rides. He guided Auguste Rodin to glory in the Betfred Derby plus scooped the St James’s Palace Stakes, Coral-Eclipse and Qatar Sussex Stakes on the brilliant Paddington before scooping the Betfred St Leger on Continuous. He has secured more Group 1 glory at Newmarket in the past week aboard Ylang Ylang (bet365 Fillies’ Mile) and City Of Troy (Native Trail’s Dewhurst Stakes).

Dettori who will retire from racing in Britian this Saturday and base himself in America, has enjoyed his best year in Britain, in terms of prize-money won by his rides, since 2019, despite taking far fewer rides during his global Farewell Tour. He won the QIPCO 2000 Guineas on Chaldean and has enjoyed further Group 1 triumphs on Emily Upjohn (Dahlbury Coronation Cup), Soul Sister (Betfred Oaks), Courage Mon Ami (Gold Cup), Mostahdaf (Juddmonte International) and Inspiral (Virgin Bet Sun Chariot Stakes). Eleven of his other winners have also been in Group races, meaning 17 of his 26 victories have been achieved in Group races. In addition, he also won the Sky Bet Ebor Handicap on Absurde.

The 2023 Flat Jockeys’ Championship includes winners between 6th May – 21st October. To find out more visits greatbritishracing.com