MIMI O’Grady, daughter of Edward, popped up on ITV Racing last Saturday.

Working for British Champions Series, Mimi was promoting an initiative entitled Club 26 which offers young people (aged 18-26) £10 tickets to some of the biggest racedays in the British flat calendar - including all five days of Royal Ascot (Windsor Enclosure).

It’s free to join and another perk of membership is behind-the-scenes visits to places like Sheikh Mohammed’s Dalham Hall Stud, which is where Mimi’s interview with presenter Adele Mulrennan was filmed.

The promotion worked well as Mimi reports a spike in the number of Club registrations this week. The Dalham Hall trip also hit the jackpot as members got up close to Dubawi hours before his son Notable Speech won the Guineas. If that doesn’t get you hooked then nothing will.

Mimi told us a bit more about her job during the week. “I graduated from UCD a year ago and had been working part-time on racedays at Fairyhouse and Leopardstown, as well as bid-spotting at Goffs. I wanted to go to London but still work in racing, so when I saw this job advertised last August it was the perfect fit. British Champions Series had just launched Club 26 and they needed someone to manage it as numbers were growing.”

QIPCO, sponsors of British Champions Series, are very keen to see more young people going racing and are strong supporters of Club 26, along with Qatar Racing, which hopes to supply the Club with two two-year-olds shortly. “It’s another free perk for members, no money will change hands. Members will have an opportunity to see the horses at the yards and, when they are racing, we will organise a ballot for badges and owners’ experiences at the track. Hopefully some members will go on to be racehorse owners themselves one day.”

The Club welcomes Irish members and you could do worse than sign up for £10 tickets to Ascot, Newmarket or York, and look out for cheap flights.

Irish racing already has some very popular student racedays but should we take it a step further and create our own Club 26? “Absolutely,” Mimi says. “The student racedays are great but they are a one-off experience. Club 26 is different and it is working, judged on the 9,000 members we have so far. Everyone in racing should get behind something like that as it benefits everyone to have the next generation engaged.”

Web: club26.co.uk