Jockey William Buick is no stranger to the Winners' Enclosure, but even by his lofty standards he had a day to remember this Saturday at the Newmarket July Cup meeting. Anyone checking the horse racing results this evening will see the familiar sight of Buick and trainer Charlie Appleby combining in sumptuous fashion to win 3 of the first 4 races on the card.
The first, Desert Flower, put up an impressive display on debut despite looking inexperienced through the early stages. Buick never had to get serious on the well backed 5/2 shot and the pair won as they liked. Was it a weak race? Perhaps. Time will tell how capable the beaten horses were in behind.
Next up for Buick was First Conquest, seemingly unfancied on handicap debut and was allowed to go off at odds of 12/1. A handicap mark of 91 didn't look particularly lenient beforehand, but he came with a sustained challenge from the back of the field and in typical Buick style was produced perfectly to score by just a neck.
Ancient Truth was labelled as banker of the day by many and with his jockey in top form the result looked ominous. The unbeaten Godolphin 2-year old had already won twice at Newmarket and he did so once again in facile fashion. Backed heavily before the off, we can assume there were some hefty bets landed in the process. Three winners in the bag for Buick, that's enough for a good days work, right?
The feature race of the day was the Group 1 July Cup where Buick was set to ride 12/1 shot Mill Stream for trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam. As race favourite Inisherin began to flounder in the closing stages, Buick made relentless progress to collar Swingalong in the final strides with a beautifully judged ride. Four-timer landed. Vandeek finished third after travelling powerfully into contention, he looks to be back on track and connections will be hopeful there's a decent race to be won with him before the end of the season.
William Buick, take a bow. All hail the king!