Darley will be happy to take offers, Jimmy Bell, Darley USA president, said today. He declined to disclose the listing price.

Plans initially had called for a one-mile training track, four 30 to 32-stall barns and two houses to be built on the property for the Darley trainers on the Montmorenci parcel. Kentucky-based Dennis Fencing installed perimeter fencing around the property, and some clearing had been done, but few other infrastructure developments have taken place since the property was closed on Dec. 30, 2009. The size of the property would have allowed for ample turnout for horses.

The fact that the property has been listed is good news for the Aiken Training Track, which sits in Aiken’s historic horse district. That means business as usual at the famed Thoroughbred facility, a surface that 39 national champions have trained over.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s purchased Robert and Janice McNair’s Stonerside Stable in Sept. 2008, and included in the transaction were the two barns at the Aiken Training Track, which prior to being owned by the McNairs, had been the property of Hall of Fame trainer MacKenzie Miller.

“We are committed to Aiken and have significant property and equine interests here,” said Bell. “We’re very pleased with the way the horses have progressed training at the Aiken Training Track. There’s no question, they have a great foundation.”

Darley had made two offers to purchase the Aiken Training Track, but was rebuffed in their attempts to buy the facility both times by the Aiken Training Track’s shareholders.

After Darley’s offer to purchase the Aiken Training Track was rejected by the Aiken Training Track’s shareholders, a number of people from Aiken, including Darley trainer Tim Jones, assistant trainer Terry Houghton, Bernadette Clayton (The Aiken Training Track’s treasurer at that time) and Lisa Hall, City of Aiken Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department and the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum program supervisor, put together a presentation demonstrating the benefits of building a thoroughbred training facility in Aiken.

Click here to see related story: Darley horses to continue training at Aiken Training Track.