LIKE many others, the Irish Horse World’s eventing and sales correspondent Sally Parkyn and husband Shaun were delighted when racing resumed in Britain last Monday week as it provided them with some sporting interest on television.

The Co Kilkenny couple were glued to their screen last Saturday when the first of the season’s classics, the Group 1 Qipco 2000 Guineas, was run at Newmarket. Their afternoon was well spent as the impressive winner, Kameko, who is trained by Andrew Balding for Qatar Racing, was broken in by their son-in-law, Tim Rusbridge.

The New Zealand international event rider, who is married to Sally and Shaun’s daughter Bryony, is based in Gloucestershire where he runs a very successful eventing, breaking and pre-training yard. Tim recorded a weekend double as he also broke in the German-bred Run Wild, who, trained by John Gosden for the Tweenhills Fillies and Meridian International syndicate, ran out the easy winner of the Listed Pretty Polly Fillies’ Stakes at Newmarket on Sunday.

Regular visitor

Tim last competed in Ireland back in 2016 at the Tattersalls International Horse Trials but is a regular visitor to this country. Last November, he attended the Goresbridge Go For Gold sale where he gave €30,000 for Evan O’Connor’s then four-year-old, Ballygriffin Cyril, who had finished second on his only start in an EI90 at Clyda five months earlier. Tim has since sold a half-share in the gelded son of Ars Vivendi who he jumped on the Sunshine Tour in Spain this spring before Covid-19 brought an abrupt end to the action there in mid-March.

Incidentally, both Kameko and Run Wild were ridden by the reigning British champion flat jockey, Co Kerry-born Oisin Murphy, who was a very successful show jumper here in his pony days.