I go after the winner with a very long ruler (8)
I believe the answer is:
victoria
'long ruler' is the definition.
'Victoria' can be an answer for 'ruler' (Queen Victoria). I am not sure about the 'long' bit.
'i go after the winner with a' is the wordplay.
'go after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the winner' becomes 'victor' ('victor' can be a synonym of 'winner').
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'i' after 'victor' is 'victori'.
'victori'+'a'='VICTORIA'
'very' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for victoria that I've seen before include "Monarch" , "Capital of the Seychelles" , "Queen; London station" , "London rail terminus" , "London Underground line represented in light blue" .)