Runners owned by the late Alan Potts will take up their entries at Cheltenham

The familiar colours of the late Alan Potts will be much in evidence at Cheltenham this weekend after a decision by his family to let his racehorses follow their established plans in the wake of his death. Potts, who died on Tuesday at the age of 80, had built up a collection of dozens of quality jumps racehorses, many of which have long been aimed at races to be staged in the next few weeks.

“We can run them all, so we will,” said Joe Tizzard, whose father, Colin, trains Potts’s British-based horses and has 13 of them entered in various races at Cheltenham over the next three days. There was some initial doubt from Tizzard Sr on Wednesday over whether he would be allowed to race the Potts horses but the way is now clear for stars such as Finian’s Oscar and Fox Norton to line up at the home of jump racing.

Speaking in the winner’s enclosure here after greeting the impressive novice hurdler White Moon, Tizzard Jr said: “I spoke to Dad to tell him this one had won and he said we’ve been given the all-clear to run the horses this weekend. So that’s what we’ll do.

“We’ll certainly be running them because they’ve been planned out for this weekend. Alan was due to come to our place Thursday night and see the yard, then go to Cheltenham. It’s a real shock that he’s no longer with us.”

Potts’s daughter, Julie, is believed to share in the family enthusiasm for jumps racing, to the extent of having led some of his runners around the paddock before their races. She appears set to inherit one of the best-quality strings of jumps horses in Britain and Ireland, including the Gold Cup winner Sizing John, based in Ireland with Jessica Harrington.

The Tizzards expect to run Viconte Du Noyer in this weekend’s big race, the BetVictor Gold Cup, while Finian’s Oscar will have his second run over fences on Friday or Sunday. The classy Fox Norton is favourite for Sunday’s Shloer Chase. Sizing Codelco is one of the few with an entry this weekend who might not take it up, as the trainer is also considering next month’s Becher Chase for him. Bryan Cooper is expected to remain as the principal jockey for the English-based horses. “That’s how Alan wanted it, so it’ll stay like that,” Tizzard Jr said.

Yanworth, the big-name horse on this card, let his backers down by falling at an early stage of his novice chase, which was just his second run over fences. Sent off the well-supported favourite at odds of 2-9, the chestnut came down at the seventh of the 15 fences despite having comfortably cleared the obstacle. “He got a little bit high behind and just crumbled on landing,” reported his jockey, Barry Geraghty. “Just a novicey error. Those fences, they just run a little bit downhill and he just got on his forehand. It’s all part of learning.”

It was an unwelcome setback for Yanworth’s trainer, Alan King, whose horses have often run well without winning in the past fortnight. It typified his recent fortunes that his fancied runner in the last race, Chosen Path, had his jockey knocked from the saddle by another horse.

“He seems fine,” a resigned King said of Yanworth. “It’s just one of those thing. He was a bit gassy and landed a bit steeply.”

Thursday’s tips, by Chris Cook

Chelmsford 5.25 Hic Bibi 5.55 Il Primo Sole 6.25 Magic Pulse 6.55 Cape Liberty 7.25 William Sayle 7.55 Syndex 8.25 Dawn Goddess 8.55 Haldaw

Ludlow 1.25 Cockney Wren 1.55 Dark Mahler 2.25 Cresswell Legend 3.00 Market Road (nb) 3.30 Miami Present 4.00 Cubswin

Southwell 12.40 Noble Ballad 1.15 The Jungle VIP 1.45 Piazon 2.15 Eva Docc 2.45 Take The High Road 3.20 Mister Showman 3.50 Masquerade Bling

Taunton 1.05 Ridgeway Flyer 1.35 Contented (nap) 2.05 Mountmellick Girl 2.35 Oscar’s Song 3.10 Dizzey Heights 3.40 Resolution Bay 4.10 Ringa Ding Ding