A month short of his 30th birthday but still the baby-faced assassin, William Buick has finally achieved the Derby victory that he has been working towards since he was not much more than a baby. At the age of 12, when he was spending as much time as possible at the racing stables of Andrew Balding, Buick had perfected his flying dismount, modelled on the one made famous by his hero, Frankie Dettori.
On Saturday, Dettori was toiling away in fifth as Buick won the race that eluded the Italian until a much later stage of his career. As he basked in the triumph half an hour later, there was just one cloud in Buick’s sky: he hadn’t done his flying dismount. “I forgot,” he cried, briefly dismayed. Spectators can expect to see it the next time Buick wins a Derby.
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