Jessica Harrington in ‘shock’ after death of Gold Cup-winning owner Alan Potts

Jessica Harrington led the tributes to Alan Potts after the leading National Hunt owner died at the age of 80.

Potts was one of the powerhouse names in jumps racing and was responsible for Sizing John, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.

Potts’ wife, Ann, also died in August after a long illness.

Harrington, who trains Sizing John and the bulk of the Potts horses in Ireland, told Press Association Sport: “It wasn’t something we were expecting. I found out through an email from his company this morning.

“He was a certain age but he’d just been away on holiday to Mauritius and Africa and come back.

“I’d talked to him a couple of times and he seemed to be in great form.”

Alan and Ann Potts enjoyed an incredible 2016-17 campaign as the Harrington-trained Supasundae also won the Coral Cup at the Cheltenham Festival, while Fox Norton, Sizing Codelco and Pingshou were all scorers at the Grand National meeting at Aintree in April.

The couple first came to prominence within National Hunt racing after their distinctive yellow and green silks were worn by the Henry de Bromhead-trained Sizing Europe, who claimed eight Grade One triumphs in a magnificent career.

Robbie Power, who was the retained rider for Potts in Ireland and also rode Sizing John in the Gold Cup, said: “It’s awful news – very sad – and so soon after his wife, too.”

In 2016 the Potts family removed all of their horses from De Bromhead’s yard, sending many of them to several trainers across Ireland. Dorset trainer Colin Tizzard also inherited a sizeable string, with a number of the Potts horses in line to run at the big three-day meeting at Cheltenham this weekend.

Tizzard told Press Association Sport: “He was a self-made man. He could be quite demanding but he could be absolutely brilliant company – that was the sort of person he was.

“He made a lot of money from scratch and he definitely brought our stable a few gears forward and he will be sadly missed.

“I am not quite sure (what will happen) about the horses. They have been sorting out this huge business of his for a few years. I think it will be sorted soon and we will then find out what will happen.”