Demolition of Lexington's Tattersalls underway

Demolition of the Tattersalls Sales Company facility in Lexington, Ky., is presently underway. For the better part of the past century, the special ambiance of the harness racing scene in Lexington in the fall included the sale of horses at Tattersalls.

The Tattersalls property, which has had the same ownership as The Red Mile racetrack since the late 1950s, is being sold for development, with apartments scheduled to be constructed.

The Tattersalls sale arena was the site of many record prices for Standardbreds, most notably the 2001 sale of the mare Cameron Hall for $1.1 million, the sale of the yearling filly Laugh A Day for $625,000, and the 1974 sale of the trotting mare Delmonica Hanover was $300,000.

Last year the owners of Tattersalls and The Red Mile brought in construction experts to review the costs of upgrading the facility so the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, which was created by merging the fall Tattersalls yearling sale and the Kentucky Standardbred sale, could be held there. But when the price tag for upgrades was estimated to be close to $1 million, the owners decided it made more sense to sell the property and lease the use of the Fasig-Tipton facility in Lexington.--harnessracing.com

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