A VISIT to Spigot Lodge, home to trainer Karl Burke and his family does not disappoint. Steeped in colourful history, the yard, which has sat at the hub of North Yorkshire's racehorse industry for many generations, is a delight to behold.

As we drive between the huge, stone gateposts, we find a place that appears wonderfully alive with all that has gone before.

Karl Burke, who moved to Spigot Lodge back in the millennium year, is a worthy pretender to racing's Northern throne. A combination of good looks, charm, skill and experience make the former jockey a formidable trainer. Holding a licence since 1990, Karl continues to build a successful string, with wins that include the Ayr Gold Cup.

"The building was structurally fine but a bit rundown when we first saw it," said Karl, " but we could see the potential and we could get so much for our money."

Karl and his wife Elaine, daughter of Didcot trainer Alan Jarvis, have transformed Spigot Lodge into an elegant country home with purpose-built staff accommodation and offices to ensure the smooth running of their racing enterprise.

Karl, who was born above The Black Swan pub in Rugby spent most of his childhood living at the town's Red Lion pub.

"It was quite a large Irish pub," he said, "and there was always racing on the television, which got me interested. I can remember skipping off school quite a few times to go with my dad to Cheltenham, Stratford and Warwick."

Karl was 12 when he began riding and was given his first pony, a small cob. Two years later, he landed a weekend job at Chris O'Neill's yard in Clifton, near Rugby.

Karl decided not to return to school for A-levels, as planned, but opted for a career as a jockey instead, riding his first winner, The Britisher, on the flat for his future father-in-law, Alan Jarvis, at the age of 17.

Although Karl enjoyed flat racing, he realised that his size was against him and eventually moved over to jump racing, enjoying his first win on Bloemfontein for Market Raisen trainer Michael Chapman.

Despite riding a total of 750 mounts, Karl succeeded in escaping serious injury, a hazard that often walks hand in hand with jump racing, although he was far from 100 per cent fit when he hobbled up the aisle to marry his schoolmate, Elaine.

"Two weeks before the wedding, I broke my foot in a fall," he explained. "I also split my lip down from the base of my nose and it was literally ripped open. It was a Saturday night and, luckily for me, an Italian plastic surgeon from South London was over for the weekend and agreed to come and stitch me up and he did a great job."

Today, the scar is barely visible and the trainer, relaxing in his drawing room, surrounded by equestrian paintings, has obviously retained his good looks despite the thrills and spills of the track.

The couple's teenaged daughters, Kelly and Lucy, share their parents' passion for equestrianism and Karl is as proud as punch of Kelly's racing success. "Its great fun watching her ride," he said. "I get a bigger kick out of that than anything. Her first ride was a winner - an amateur flat race at Catterick Bridge - it was great!"

Karl's transition from jockey to trainer began to shift up a gear when the couple bought a smallholding near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, 14 years ago.

"We kept getting good reports back from people and some of the owners said that they would support us if we ever decided to start training. This seemed like a good idea, as I wasn't enjoying the riding and I was doing loads of travelling and not really going anywhere."

After six months, the Burkes were forced to move from Newark to Broadway, near Cheltenham, in search of better training facilities.

"We found out pretty quickly that the gallops in Newark just weren't good enough," explained Karl. "Our new yard was much better and was owned by Michael Berrow, who managed the pop group Duran Duran."

As Karl's training career progressed, two further moves proved pivitol - to Ginge, Berkshire, and Newmarket - before the family eventually upped sticks and moved to Coverdale, near Leyburn.

Today, Karl has a string of 80 horses, the largest he has ever had. His yard is divided into two separate centres, each with spacious, well ventilated boxes, a horse walker and head lad's houses. Spigot Lodge also boasts Middleham's only indoor school and easy access to High and Low Moor and an equine therapy pool.

"We had 64 winners on the flat last year, which has been our best for numbers," said Karl. "We've got a jump licence, but I haven't got a jumper in the yard at the minute. We started off jump training until Daring Destiny came along - she was our first big winner. I enjoy training the flat horses more than training the jumpers. There's more money, the resale of horses is easier.

She wasn't bred particularly well and I think she was insured for £1,500 at the time and she turned out a real cracking mare, winning a Group 2 , Group 3 and the Ayr Gold Cup. Karl added.

"We've been trying to get another Group winner. We've had a couple of Group places and listed, placed horses since but nothing that did the job like she did and that was a pure fluke, really."

As in any career, there are equally as many lows as there are highs, the tragic death of one of Karl's racehorses on Christmas Day ranking as one of the most sombre.

"The horse was found dead on Sunday morning by the lads - it died during the night after severing a main artery in its pelvis after it slipped and fell," said Karl.

"It's an awfully upsetting thing to have to do but you have to try to give support and sympathy."

But racing is a sport in which peaks and troughs can manifest themselves in spectacular fashion. Last autumn, Karl found himself embroiled in a well publicised investigation into alleged race fixing and was subsequently bailed, along with 21 others, to answer police questioning on April 2.

"It was a bolt out of the blue," said Karl. "Elaine and I were away celebrating our wedding anniversary. I woke up at seven and phoned my secretary to see that everything was all right and she said, 'Someone wants to speak to you.'"

"A policeman told me to stay where I was and they would come and pick me up. I wondered what it was all about. I didn't know whether they were coming in with guns blazing and sirens going at seven o'clock in the morning, but they were very good - it wasn't even a marked car and they took me off to Northallerton.

"The worst thing was they cleared the office out, so I came back to find no phone books or computers. I've still had hardly any of it back.

"Ninety-nine per cent of the owners were 100 per cent behind us. We now have more horses and more business than we have ever had. I've been caught in a big net that has been cast and I've got to get myself out of it as best as I can.

"I've done nothing wrong. I've not broken a Jockey Club rule, let alone a law of the land, so my conscience is clear. I will just have to fight that when it comes to it."

Pictures by John Grossick Photography

Published: 25/02/2005