Club 26 members taken for a Park Paddocks adventure during Tattersalls July Sale

The first exclusive Qipco British Champions Series Club 26 event took place on the final day of the Tattersalls July Sale, which the team hopes will be one of many to acquaint younger racing fans with the world of bloodstock.

A free-to-join initiative for those aged 18 to 26, the club will be providing various opportunities to get behind the scenes as well as discounted tickets. With an introduction to Tattersalls from auctioneer Freddie McKibbin and an overview into the world of breeding and sales from leading consignor Jamie Railton and Tweenhills' bloodstock manager Hannah Wall, attendees were on Friday given a glimpse into a sale day at Park Paddocks ahead of Falmouth Stakes day at Newmarket's July course. 

Ben Young of Great British Racing and British Champions Series said: "This is the first of different experiences we're going to try to do with Club 26 this year. We launched it in May before the Guineas and have 2,500 members already. That's just purely from marketing and PR. 

Jamie Railton talks to the Club 26 members at Park Paddocks Credit: Dan Abraham

"We're giving this a go to see what happens and hopefully it can bring some new people into the sport who may not have experienced anything like this before. 

"I was just speaking to a couple of guys from York and they've purchased £10 tickets for every single British Champions Series raceday. It's fantastic to see them getting involved in the sport."

After the introduction to a sales ring for club members, the next port of call looks set to be visits to yards and tracks around the country.  

Young said: "We've got a few things in the pipeline, including stud visits, and there'll also be a visit to Charlie Johnston in Yorkshire during the Ebor festival. It's all about trying to tie in these different experiences. 

"A lot of people don't know about the breeding element of racing and I think it's really important people get to know about it. It's great to see them here willing to learn about it today."

A lot from Jamie Railton's consignment walks past the Club 26 teamCredit: Dan Abraham

The trip was a first experience of a sales ring for several members, including Hungarian-born Josh Hatton. 

"I've got family in Hungary with horses, so I've grown up with them," he said. "My grandad was massively into racing so I got into it through that."

Fellow club member Robert Neil said: "I went racing with my parents and family and I saw details of this event through social media. I'm actually quite interested in the sales, my parents' friends in their village go to the sales and have horses in training, so I was interested to see the procedure and how it's run." 

Also taking it all in was Matthew Francis, who said: "I got into racing through my grandparents; when I was younger I went most weekends, mainly to the Yorkshire racecourses. This is the first sale I've been to, it's something new to me, but it's very interesting as you learn a lot of new things about horses."

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