Newmarket: King Charles to sell 14 of Queen's horses

Fourteen of the Queen's horses are being sold at Newmarket on Monday

King Charles III is selling off some of the racehorses he inherited from his mother the Queen.

Her late Majesty was a keen breeder of racehorses as well as an avid racegoer and rider.

Tattersalls auction house in Newmarket said it was selling 14 of Queen Elizabeth II's horses on Monday.

They include Love Affairs, trained by Clive Cox from Lambourn, in Berkshire, which was the Queen's last winner at Goodwood two days before her death.

Five of the horses on auction were trained by Andrew Balding based in Kingsclere, Hampshire, as well as a second horse, trained by Clive Cox.

Another high profile lot is Just Fine, which was trained by Sir Michael Stoute from Newmarket, who oversaw more than 100 royal winners.

Tattersall's spokesman Jimmy George said: "It's nothing out of the ordinary. Every year they would sell horses.

"The Queen had brood mares of her own, she would breed them and sell them. You can't keep them all."

The Queen, an avid racegoer and rider, also bred horses from her stud at Sandringham

Mr George said the sale of the Queen's horses did not symbolise the end of the Royal household's connection with racing.

He said: "Every year owners sell stock. His Majesty is just doing what owners do."

It was from her father, King George VI, that the Queen inherited the Royal Stud, a racehorse breeding centre at Sandringham that produced many of her winners.

Her racing manager John Warren, from the Highclere Stud in Hampshire, previously said horses were a "tremendous getaway" from other duties and her support had been a major boost for British racing.

"I'm sure if the Queen had not been bred into being a monarch she would have found a vocation with horses. It was just simply in her DNA," he said.