A preferred bidder has been selected to buy a historic horse-training yard on Epsom Downs.

Having started a second round of discussions with bidders in May to find a new owner for Downs House, a building owned by Epsom Council right next to Epsom Downs Racecourse, a council spokesman said its legal team has now agreed to work with a specific bidder "with the aim of bringing about a satisfactory sale".

The late 18th Century listed, five-bedroom Downs House has 10.6 acres of grass and woodland, a barn, bothy, training yard and 43 horse boxes all within a few hundred yards of the start of the world's premier flat race.

It was once home to Eclipse, a thoroughbred from whom 95 per cent of today's bloodstock is believed to have been descended.

The spokesman added: "The preferred bidder intends to restore and use the property as a horse training establishment."

He said the council could not disclose any further information about the bidder at this stage as it is a commercially sensitive matter.

Epsom Council took back control of the run-down property in July 2012 after deciding not to renew the lease of its last trainer, Philip Mitchell, in 2007, whose family had been training racehorses there for 48 years.

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