According to various sources in the media, police were called to the home of William Buick on Saturday after he reported a man sat menacingly outside of his property in a car.
That man is thought to have been young jockey Joey Haynes, with whom Buick is said to have had a furious altercation following a race at Lingfield Park on Saturday 14th November 2020.
The pair were riding in the 2:30 at the track with Buick, who narrowly finished behind Oisin Murphy in the champion flat jockey standings, aboard the 11/8 favourite Folk Magic and Haynes on the 250/1 outsider Artisan Bleu, who is hampered by the fact he only has one eye (the horse, not Haynes).
Video footage shows pretty clearly that Buick feared left towards the rail to curtail the forward momentum of Artisan Bleu, with a still frame image showing the jockey looking over his left shoulder before making the move.
In the end, Folk Magic finished fourth and the underdog faded into ninth, but it was clear that the manoeuvre hampered the progress of all involved. As the trainer of Artisan Blue, Adam West, said:
“Buick was very unsporting and Joey wasn’t very happy because both of them and their horses could have been killed.”
And that wasn’t the end of the matter. According to The Sun, the pair exchanged words before Buick returned to his Cambridgeshire mansion. He later allegedly called police after a unnamed man was spotted outside his property for a prolonged period of time.
The duo are thought to have been friends prior to the incident, although according to Haynes they haven’t spoken since. It has been reported that police have dropped the case after Buick refused to take it any further.
A Little Too Much Jockeying for Position
It has to be said that this is not the first time that William Buick has been involved in a dangerous incident during a race.
Go back to 2016 and he was handed a 15-day suspension when his mount in the Prix de Diane, Highlands Queen, was adjudged to have caused the fall of Armande in the Chantilly showpiece.
Buick’s ban was subsequently extended by another 15 days after he was deemed to have been ‘offensive’ to race officials, and he was disqualified from the renewal as well.
It’s unclear whether the 32-year-old learned his lesson, because in 2020 he has been involved in two high-profile incidents.
Before his entanglement with Haynes, Buick was banned for two days back in August for careless riding – although the ‘wronged party’ later said he wasn’t impeded.
They were taking part in a 6f nursery race at Goodwood when his mount Zamaani careered of course and was judged to have hampered both Porfin and Rooster.
Buick took the penalty on the chin before Adrian McCarthy, aboard Porfin, told stewards that his horse was simply unruly and a difficult ride, rather than being affected by Zamaani’s actions.
After an appeal, the stewards upheld their view that Buick was guilty of a reckless ride after veering left despite being a length or so clear at the time.