Ed Chamberlin talks to Steve Parkin, Chairman of Clipper Logistics and leading racehorse owner

Ed Chamberlin: How has lockdown been for you and your family?

Steve Parkin: We’re very fortunate to live on a 300-acre estate so the children haven’t been locked down in the house. They’ve been helping on the farm but have obviously become fractious as they were supposed to be doing their exams so that’s been a bit of a bad time for them but we’ve held up well and hopefully if lockdown starts easing the staff can start socialising with their friends and family again.

EC: What about the business, Clipper Logistics? I read on your website “it’s all about getting the job done no matter how complex.” I guess things can’t get more complex than they have been for the last few months?

SP: I woke up one morning to the news that we were going into lockdown - the whole world was turning off effectively. That gave us many challenges within our business because we are primarily in the retail space. Fortunately, after a brief hiatus to start with, as a lot our business is online, we started to see huge spikes in online shopping which basically meant Black Friday volumes every day for the last month.

From adversity we actually switched with our online business to record volumes. We were also approached by the Ministry of Defence back at the end of March asking if we could help with the distribution of PPE to hospitals. Within four days of getting the phone call we had a distribution network set up with 100 vehicles and 700 staff and now about 1.2 million square feet of warehousing so within eight weeks of not even working with the NHS, we have now been at the forefront of the PPE deliveries to hospitals and I’m pleased to say it’s been a huge success which has been highlighted by the government. So, from adversity, we seem to be doing very well.

We don’t know what’s at the end of this when things get back to normal but at the moment we’ve been very successful and are confident moving forward.

As you can imagine it’s a political hot-potato, there’s been an awful lot of air time about the lack of PPE into the front line, so we felt we were doing a service for the country, not only our own business. We’re delighted with what we’ve done. We employ 10,000 people and the furloughing of staff has actually been very small. The only ones furloughed are the ones who work in geographical areas where it’s impossible to get them to work.

If you look, our actual staffing levels were 20% up on normal times so we’re bucking the trend and recruiting through this process.

EC: Let’s move onto racing. Firstly, where do you stand on the resumption on June 1 - are you waiting nervously?

SP: Absolutely, but I think things are pointing now to us getting under way on Monday unless there’s some curveball in the next few days. The two things I’ve missed in the lockdown are football and racing. My team, Leeds United, are set to get promoted, hopefully, so we’re hoping the season gets concluded and we can go back to what we’d say is our divine right and a place in the Premier League!

The biggest thing I’ve missed with racing is the TV coverage because I work a lot of hours every day and getting home on an evening, flicking through replays, watching the two-year-old races, was my hour in bed before I went to sleep. Fortunately I’ve watched more of Cheltenham and races through the last few years but it will be great to get back to seeing some live sport again. Watching it at night helps me dream about winning Group Ones.

EC: How difficult a time is it going to be for owners not being at meetings like the Guineas Festival and Royal Ascot?

SP: Obviously you’d love to be there but we also know what’s going on in the wider world. If going behind closed doors means getting racing on without owners and racegoers then it’s a step in the right direction. We’ve made a lot of sacrifices, the cost of 80-odd horses in training is a couple of million pounds a year and a big number. These are the first steps and let’s see where it leads us but we have to make sacrifices. I’ll be able to watch them on TV and that’s what me and the other owners will have to do.

EC: Do you fear racing might become less attractive to smaller owners because of all of this and does racing face a challenge to keep all owners interested in our sport?

SP: We do. It’s a challenge and a significant one because at the end of all this there’s going to be a tsunami of financial problems. I think we’re all aware of that. That will affect the smaller owner who maybe has a leg or is in a syndicate of 12. That will be a challenge. I have a lot of friends who are big Leeds fans and I’ve been asked on a number of occasions “why do you put all that money into racing?”

I tell them your horse winning, be it a maiden at Ripon or race at Royal Ascot, the thrill of that is incomparable. I have got many people involved in racing who came to the races with me and ended it by deciding to have a horse. There’s probably been about half a dozen who will take a bit of a horse with me.

A friend of mine and I bought Suedois - he’s taken us all around the world and won £1.5million in prize money. He’s the lucky one. It was his first horse and he’s hooked. We shouldn’t undersell ourselves in racing. The thrill of a horse winning a maiden for three grand at Ripon is as good as Leeds winning the European Cup. We have got a product that is unique.

EC: What would give you most pleasure – breeding a Derby winner or Leeds being promoted to the Premier League?

SP: Funnily my daughter asked me the other day whether I’d prefer to own a Royal Ascot winner or see Leeds go up but to answer your question it would be to breed a Derby winner. I probably have about 150 horses, 80 in training, the rest breeding stock. We’ve had a very successful start to our breeding operation - we’ve got probably 25 elite mares that we’ve bought either privately or as a yearling and raced them. We have our first stallion this year in Soldier’s Call who covered 180 mares. The breeding side is very important to me. In terms of investing, as we know, you can’t make money out of racing horses. It’s a sport and you do it for the love if it.

When you get to the breeding side it’s a huge business and I’ve put an awful lot of investment into my farms and my stock and it’s something my children will be able to take on in future years when I’m no longer here. It probably won’t be in my lifetime but it would be great to be talked about alongside the likes of Juddmonte; that’s our lofty ambition in breeding.