TO truly understand William Buick’s determination, it’s necessary to go back 20-odd years to a frozen Norway winter morning.
“I was cycling down to the racetrack where I was riding out before school in the winter. It’s cold in Norway – it’s freezing,” says the freshly crowned two-time champion jockey.
“This particular morning, it was numbing, it was that cold. But off I went on my bike down to the racetrack before school. The trainer’s office was above the stables up a spiral staircase. He called me up and he said, ‘When it’s -20°C, we don’t ride out.’”
That’s some dedication.
“Or stupid, I don’t know!” he laughs, adding: “My mum always says that was the time she knew that it was a one-way ticket; she wanted me to stay at school, but she knew then that she couldn’t stop me.”
It’s a far cry from the warm dining room at Bedford Lodge, with its gentle clink of breakfast china, where
