Northern Ruler 4yo colt Karl Burke Clipper Logistics
Recently transferred from William Haggas to Karl Burke at Spigot Lodge the 4yo makes his debut for the yard at Newcastle on Wednesday 8th January 2025.
Bought for 500,000 gns as a yearling the Kingman colt is probably the most expensive yearling purchased by Clipper Logistics and highlights the remarkable success story that is Steve Parkin who transformed a White Van man business into a billion pound fortune, when Clipper Logistics was sold for 950 million plus in the autumn of 2022.
His success story in Horse Racing includes a classic winning 1,000 Guineas winner in Fallen Angel, sponsorship of leading races at the York Ebor meeting and ownership of highly successful studs.
The attached link to a Racing Post article written in October 2024 highlights a catalyst for changes to Steve Parkin’s strategy with his racing operation.
A move away from some of his Newmarket interests is highlighted here and takes us to Northern Ruler.
Three career runs and still a maiden running for the first time as a 4yo in a low level Novice on a freezing cold afternoon at Gosforth Park Newcastle is clearly not what was intended when the horse was purchased.
However, the horse had shown plenty of potential in its first two outings in what turned out to be above average novice events, with form lines closely linked to the likes of Roi De France, Shader and James Webb all rated in the high 90’s and potential listed race level horses.
The third run was expected to be a formality in a desperately poor race on the AW at Lingfield. Backed from odds against overnight to 30/100 at the off, the race looked a formality. However, 4F into the race the pace setters put the handbrakes on and the race was ran at a crawl until 2F out. Northern Ruler get caught too far back and couldn’t find the pace to go by and left behind some serious bets.
Not seen out since the 4yo has a rating of 88 which will mean he will be very well handicapped this season. I fully expect if all goes to plan this afternoon he will be targeted at one of the Class 2 handicaps run on the first day of the York Dante meeting. Which one will depend on his running today a first attempt over 1m 4F+.
There is a suggestion on breeding that he may be best at short of 1m 4f, which is why i think they have started him out in this race. However that stamina doubt would only be a problem in higher grade and i expect the horse to win this afternoon.
The yard is in great form at present with 6 from 11 winners on the AW with runners starting at odds of less than 33/1. The early markets put the horse in at a shade of odds on, which is no bet territory for me and i will watch and wait for the horse to run in handicaps when we get some juicy early prices.
Those new to the service please note that on this specialised area of Nu Trends we rarely recommend bets unless 2/1 or more is open.
Last year I only advised backing 1 horse at a shorter price which was Hamish who was an absolute certainty in a listed race at the Curragh, winning by 5L
This will be the first in a series of case studys that offer more than just a list of horses to follow. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section
Russ – 8 January 2025
Chrysalis Consortium 
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