UK Champion honours for Godolphin and William Buick

Godolphin secured a 15th UK Champion Owner title on Champions Day at Ascot, Saturday, 15 October, with retained jockey William Buick crowned UK Champion Jockey for the first time.

Another hugely successful season saw Godolphin horses accrue prize money in excess of £6 million going into the final day of the championship, including Coroebus (pictured) and Native Trail finishing first and second in the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas.

Coroebus delivered further G1 success in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, with Naval Crown edging out Creative Force in the G1 Platinum Jubilee Stakes as Godolphin took the leading owner title at the meeting with five winners.

The second half of the season has seen an exciting group of two-year-olds emerge, headed by unbeaten G2 Gimcrack Stakes victor Noble Style alongside Newmarket G3 winners Silver Knott and Flying Honours.

Hugh Anderson, Managing Director of Godolphin (UK and Dubai), said: “Godolphin is immensely proud to receive the Champion Owner trophy at Ascot on such a prestigious day for our sport.

“It has been another season of great excitement with numerous wins at the highest level and I must pay tribute in particular to Charlie Appleby and the team at Moulton Paddocks who have led the charge. Saeed bin Suroor and John and Thady Gosden have also made a big contribution to a season that has showcased our homebreds and our stallions.

“Thank you to every single Godolphin employee, all of whom have played their part. Our greatest thanks must of course go to our Principal, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, for his endless loyalty, enthusiasm and passion for the thoroughbred.

“Finally, it is a particular thrill to collect this trophy alongside William Buick. He is at the very sharp end of Team Godolphin and all of us congratulate him on his outstanding horsemanship, determination, bravery and skill. He is a Champion Jockey for a Champion Owner and we could not be more delighted to end the UK season on such a high note.”

After finishing second in 2015, 2020 and 2021, William Buick claimed a first UK Jockeys’ Championship in dominant fashion and heads into Champions Day 67 winners clear of his nearest rival.

William Buick said: “It is great and personally it’s something I have really wanted to achieve for quite a long time. Obviously, it has taken me a few years, but it is fantastic.

“My father was an eight-time Champion Jockey in Scandinavia so it is great to be able to achieve it and I feel I have achieved it in the way that I would like to do it – to balance it with the big races, the big meetings, my main employer Godolphin – making sure that is at the forefront of my focus.

“It’s very satisfying and, when every jockey starts out, this is what you want to achieve – you want to win the Derby and you want to become Champion Jockey.”