Dubai: It was as if Godolphin jockey William Buick knew a big win was just around the corner when I interviewed him in February.
Just six months after suffering a compression fracture in his back after a fall from Permian at the Arlington Stakes, he vowed to make it up to Godolphin for sticking with him through injury.
A Dubai World Cup run was off the cards, although he did go on to win the race before with Hawkbill in the Sheema Classic, but you could see him eyeing an even bigger prize.
“When you are on the sidelines, you reflect a lot,” he said at the time. “I suppose I did want to come back and prove a point to come back stronger. I’m still at an age now where I can get better, and I don’t think I’ve peaked yet.”
It was then that the 29-year-old Norwegian made the boldest of statements. “To win the Epsom Derby for Godolphin would be magical. It would be huge for me personally but even bigger if I could do it in the blue colours of His Highness and his family, that’s the ultimate aim and we push hard every day for it.”
Fast forward four months and with that now achieved, it seems the reality of Godolphin’s first Epsom Derby win was just as big as he had imagined.
“It’s the pinnacle of our sport, it’s the holy grail, it’s the be-all and end-all, it’s the everything,” he said after Saturday’s win on Masar. “It means the absolute world to me.
“I have had a few rides in the race and come close a couple of times. I think this is my seventh or eighth Derby ride and I know some people have ridden more Derbys without winning, but there were a couple of times when I was thinking: ‘is my time ever going to come?’
“You try to keep calm and do everything right but I think every jockey feels a certain amount of pressure as there are a lot of things that can happen in the race. You have to become one with the horse and figure it out together.
“You have to have the full package — temperament, balance, tenacity, stamina, speed. The best horse wins and it’s the ultimate race.
“We roll on from here and I suspect on Monday morning, Monday lunchtime it might sink in. To be able to realise my dream is something special.”
