I’m a little fella from Leeds who nearly bought the football club – now I’m spending my millions on stallions instead

STEVE PARKIN is the ultimate rags-to-riches fairytale – from a council house in Leeds to selling the £1billion business he built from scratch.

But the self-titled ‘little fella’ who left school with no GCSEs wants to take on people with even deeper pockets next.

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The ruler of Dubai, Irish billionaires and global racing operations will soon find themselves up against horses Parkin has bred himself.

Parkin, who made his fortune with distribution company Clipper Logistics, is moving into the money-spinning world of stallions.

He had toyed, twice, with buying his beloved Leeds United.

But he backed out having decided it wouldn’t be fair on his children to put them through the stress.

So he returned to his other love, horses, with a renewed energy and focus on bloodstock.

Parkin can afford to do so partly through his success on the track.

Just last week Fallen Angel was a brilliant winner of the Group 2 Moyglare Stakes at the Curragh, with victory worth over £200,000.

The day before another £100,000 came his way courtesy of Flight Plan’s all-the-way win in the Group 2 Dullingham Park Stakes at Leopardstown.

Yet while the £2.6million his horses have won on the track over the past five years in Britain alone might sound a lot, it’s nothing in the world of stallions.

Don’t forget, this is the sphere where Galileo became the first billion pound horse.

Leading stallions Dubawi and Frankel charge £350,000 and £275,000 each to cover a mare – and they can do that four times a day.

No wonder Parkin wants a piece of the action, although he’s well aware it will take years, and a decent slice of luck, to come to fruition.

Parkin bought Dullingham Park Stud in Newmarket last year and he already owned the 300-acre Branton Court Stud near Harrogate.

His latest purchase will be no expense spared in trying to get the best.

In a wife-ranging interview with Thoroughbred Daily News, Parkin, who owns a Ferrari, jet and helicopter, said: “If I’m going to stand stallions here, I want to go the extra bit just to give that feeling that this is something.

“It’s not a backstreet garage, it’s a proper shiny dealership. Hence, why we’ve put proper stallion boxes in.”

Parkin reckons his business acumen is essential in the stallion business.

He is certain you need that mindset to make it work otherwise the costs will swallow you up.

He added: “I know this is a sport, and animals are a bit different, but you’ve still got to use the business ethos.

“I used to have a transport business, but then I would subcontract warehousing, I’d subcontract packaging, I’d subcontract processing.

“So what I did was I went out and bought a packaging company, I bought a warehousing company. I went and bought that company, and another company, and I joined the circle up.

“If you look at this industry, you can do that same circle – owner, breeder, mares, farms, and the last thing is the stallions.”

Parkin is hoping to have a stallion who charges £50,000 a pop – while banging in winners of a different kind on the track.

He has set up the Bronte syndicate, which includes England cricketer Jonny Bairstow.

Already they have made £120,000 thanks to Indian Run’s rapid rise to stardom.

The two-year-old colt won the Group 3 Acomb Stakes at York and is 16-1 to win the £500,000 Dewhurt next month.

Is there anything Parkin can’t do?

Richard Pelham / The Sun

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