They were one of her greatest pleasures, from the age of four when she was given her first pony to her twilight years when she was still fielding winners.

Now some the Queen's best horses are being put up for sale, amid fears the King could be winding down his late mother's Norfolk racing operations.

Thoroughbreds under the hammer include the two-year-old Love Affairs, the Queen's last winner, who came home first in a fillies' handicap at Goodwood on September 6, two days before Elizabeth II died at the age of 96.

Also included in Tattersalls' autumn sale, held from October 24 - 27 at Newmarket, is three times winning four-year-old Just Fine, which last won at Leicester on October 4.

A further 10 of the horses the King inherited are in the catalogue, meaning almost a third of the late monarch's 37 horses currently racing are for sale.

Although he has occasionally ridden to hounds, Charles III does not share his mother's fondness for the turf.

Over the weekend, a source described as being close to the Royal Stud at Sandringham said its operations were being wound down and it could become a museum within three years.

Buckingham Palace said it could not comment on either the sale or future plans for the stud.

Sandringham Stud has been at the centre of the Royal Family's racing interests since it was established by Edward, the then Prince of Wales and later Edward VII, in 1886.

Eastern Daily Press: File photo dated 19/04/72 of Queen Elizabeth II, with her sons Prince Andrew (left) and Prince Edward waiting for Princess Anne's arrival in the Cross-Country event of the Windsor Horse Trials, as one of the most-loved and long-lived road vehicles, and a favourite with the Queen, will cease production when the last Land Rover Defender will be produced by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) at Solihull in the West Midlands on Friday.File photo dated 19/04/72 of Queen Elizabeth II, with her sons Prince Andrew (left) and Prince Edward waiting for Princess Anne's arrival in the Cross-Country event of the Windsor Horse Trials, as one of the most-loved and long-lived road vehicles, and a favourite with the Queen, will cease production when the last Land Rover Defender will be produced by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) at Solihull in the West Midlands on Friday. (Image: PA/Press Association Images)

The Queen took over the mantle after her father, King George VI passed away in 1952.

As well as racing horses, over a 70-year career in which she would win all of the classics apart from the Derby, Elizabeth II took a keen interest in bloodstock and was patron of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association.

Her horses were foaled at the Sandringham Stud, a mile or so down the lanes from Sandringham House.

The carr stone stables with their immaculate paddocks were usually one of her first ports of call whenever she visited Norfolk, while until her later years she would sometimes be seen riding around the lanes wearing her trademark headscarf instead of a riding hat.