William Buick: ‘When you’re in the firing line in every race, you have to really focus’

“I was keen, mad keen. I had to be,” William Buick says as he remembers how, as a boy in Oslo, he was desperate to ride racehorses before school every freezing day. Buick, who has just become Britain’s champion jockey for a second successive year, would cycle to a racecourse despite the brutal winter mornings. “I was about 12 and I’d be riding out for Wido Neuroth, who is the biggest trainer in Norway, and Scandinavia.

“One morning it was pitch black and my bicycle tyres were making that creaking noise you get when you hit compact snow. It was below -20C soon after six and I thought: ‘Wow, this feels cold.’ I got to the racecourse and thought: ‘Gosh, it’s quiet this morning, there’s no one out.’ Wido’s office was above the stables and he said: ‘William, when it’s -20C, we don’t ride out. It’s too cold, even for us.’”

On a balmy October afternoon, at his home near Newmarket, Buick laughs in the sunshine. His accent still carries echoes of Norway and, while taking a brief break from his relentless schedule which culminates in Flat racing’s final day of the season at the Qipco Champions Day at Ascot next Saturday, Buick is amused by the memory. He will soon tell me about the private challenges his family face, but that dark Oslo morning was meaningful.

“I was skinny and tiny but my mum says that she knew from that day on that I was mad about horse racing. She had to get on board because, after that, she said: ‘I couldn’t stop you.’”

Yarmouth 

1.55 Gracious Leader
2.25 Mukaafah
2.55 Stintino Sunset
3.25 Total Lockdown
4.00 Serendipitous Lady
4.35 Okeanos
5.05 Dream Pirate

Musselburgh 

2.05 Luna Magic
2.35 Edge Of Darkness
3.05 Sixcor
3.35 Without Delay
4.10 Shades Of Summer
4.40 Cantalupo Bella
5.10 He’s An Angel 

Windsor 

2.15