BRED in the purple, Northern Trick was a daughter of Northern Dancer out of Trick Chick (Prince John), and thus a half-sister to the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner On The Sly (Roi Dagobert), and to the French and American stakes winners Trick Question (Lyphard) and Sweet Slew (Seattle Slew). She was the third of 17 foals born to her dam who was a daughter of the noteworthy broodmare Fast Line, by Mr Busher.

Northern Trick was bred at Hermitage Farm by Warner L Jones and was acquired by Stavros Niarchos and placed in training with Francois Boutin. She never ran at two and made just six starts in her only season to race at three. At the end of that year, 1984, she was officially rated the best three-year-old filly in Europe, winning four of her starts and finishing second on the remaining occasions.