Epsom Council is in discussion with bidders over the sale of the historic horse-training yard on Epsom Downs which it owns.

A council spokesman said a number of serious offers have been received for Downs House, right next to Epsom Downs Racecourse, after a mystery buyer pulled out of a deal to purchase it in January.

He said: "At this stage two of the bids are preferred. 

"We will be conducting further due diligence checks, and will have further discussions with the bidders, with a view to taking the matter forward to 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.

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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