Born on July 22, 1988 in Oslo, Norway, William Buick is the son of Walter Buick, who was Scandinavian Champion Jockey on eight occasions. On leaving school, Buick Jnr. became apprenticed to Andrew Balding at Park House Stables, Kingsclere and rode his first winner, Bank On Benny, trained by Paul D’Arcy, in an apprentice handicap at Salisbury on September 27, 2006.
Five years previously, the late Ian Balding, father of Andrew – and best known as the trainer of Mill Reef – had already recognised Buick’s potential, verbally placing a bet of £50 at 100/1 with Tote chairman Peter Jackson that the youngster would, one day, become champion jockey. After riding 10 winners in his inaugural season, Buick was hailed by Balding Snr. as “the best apprentice we have ever had.” The latter eventually collected on his bet, too, albeit with the proceeds going to the Injured Jockeys’ Fund, when Buick was crowned champion jockey for the first time on October 15, 2022. He said, “I am absolutely thrilled he has fulfilled the potential I always knew he had.”
In 2008, Buick was involved in a ding-dong battle for the apprentices’ title with fellow Balding apprentice David Probert, the pair eventually sharing the accolade with 50 winners apiece. The following season, his first as a fully-fledged professional, he rode his first Grade 1 winner, Lahaleeb, trained by Mick Channon, in the E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, Ontario on October 17, 2009. Buick opened his Group 1, and Classic, account on British soil on Arctic Cosmos, trained by John Gosden – for whom he would subsequently replace Jimmy Fortune as stable jockey – in the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster on September 11, 2010.
In 2011, Buick rode over a hundred winners in Britain and Ireland for the first time and won the St. Leger Stakes, again, on Masked Marvel, trained by Gosden. After riding over a hundred winners in 2012, 2013 and 2014, he was appointed retained rider to Goldolphin in 2015 and has continued to flourish ever since. He has been champion jockey twice, in 2022 and 2023 and, on July 10, 2025, reached the landmark of 2,000 career winners on El Cordobes, trained by Charlie Appleby, in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket. Numerically, his first championship-winning season was his most successful, with 201 winners from 750 rides, at a strike rate of 27%, and he currently has an eyewatering 121 Group 1 and Grade 1 victories to his name worldwide.