Kauto Star 50/50 for Gold Cup

With just days to go before the Cheltenham Gold Cup, one of the favourite horses, Kauto Star only has a 50/50 chance of being able to compete, trainer Phil Nicholls said yesterday.

The French-bred gelding fell during training for the event last week and is continue to recover from the injury.  In an update on Facebook yesterday, Nicholls said Kauto was able to do a strong canter of more than ten furlongs and said that the two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup champion had made "a big step forward".

The Cheltenham Gold Cup, which attracts thousands of people to the town, will begin on Tuesday, 13 March and will finish on Friday, 16 March.

Travel warning issued to Gloucestershire motorists

With the continuing icy temperatures across Gloucestershire, the Met Office has issued a yellow ice warning for the county.  The warning will remain in place until Monday, 6 February.

Over the weekend, an amber warning for the Gloucestershire area was issued by the Highways Agency and motorists were urged to take care and be prepared if they planned to travel.  As the cold temperatures continue, residents are advised to listen to local radio to keep up-to-date with weather and travel conditions.

The Highways Agency will give regular updates through their Twitter account and they can also be contacted on 0300 123 5000 for the latest news.

Many areas of the UK were affected by the snow yesterday but Gloucestershire seems to have escaped the worst of it.  A light snow shower hit Cheltenham yesterday, and while temperatures remain icy cold, most traces of snow were gone by this morning.

The cold weather is expected to continue into the week.

No cat DNA found on Woodchester deer carcass

The deaths of two deers in Woodchester, Gloucestershire earlier this year led some people to speculate that they'd been killed by a big cat given the injuries found on them.  However, a press release issue by the University of Warickshire says that no cat DNA has been found on one of the deer carcasses but fox DNA has been discovered.

Researchers from the university also say that they expect to find that the second carcass will also contain fox DNA. Dr Robin Allaby, an Associate Professor at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warickshire, tested 45 samples of taken from the wounds found in the deer carcasses.  The carcasses were tested for fox, cat and dog DNA.

Commenting in a press release, Dr Robin Allaby said:

“We did not detect cat DNA on either deer carcass. Other than deer, by far the strongest genetic signal we found on the Woodchester Park carcass was from a fox. That fox DNA was found on the ribs, legs and fur plucking sites from the Woodchester deer carcass.”

“On the second deer carcass we found canid DNA. A more detailed analysis is underway to pin down the canid species but our expectation is that that will also be fox DNA.

Gloucestershire is well known for sightings of big cats.  In the period from 2004-2005, 104 sightings were reported.

Rick Minter has authored a book on big cats and the reported sightings in the UK.  In a University of Warickshire press release he said:

"There has been speculation of breeding amongst feral big cats in the UK. We are no closer to indicating that with these results, but lessons have been learnt from Warwick University's valuable input to this exercise. The strong media interest suggests an appetite to look into this subject further, and recent community surveys in Gloucestershire have indicated a strong desire for big cat evidence to be researched carefully."

"We should not be complacent about possible big cats in the UK, but considering these animals living secretly in our landscape can fire people's imaginations and help us consider all of the wild nature around us. Our outdoors can still hold surprises maybe."

Cheltenham residents attend public meeting over Joint Core Strategy plan

Local residents turned out for a public meeting on Friday evening which was held to discuss the Joint Core Strategy (JCS)  plan and how it could affect the local area.  As well as more than 400 residents, local MP  and Leckhampton resident Martin Horwood and Sir Jonathan Porritt were in attendance.

Three local councils have been working on the plan together and Gloucestershire County Council has supported the plan.

The first plan (Scenario A) would mean more than 16,000 new houses being built by 2031 and under this scenario the building would be built on brownfield sites in the Cheltenham and Gloucester area. Scenarios B, C, and D would include the housing plans set out in Scenario A plus more than 1000 additional homes for the Leckhampton and Shurdington area. The developments would be built on new and green land areas.

During the meeting a vote was put to those in attendance which said: "This Meeting strongly objects to the large scale building of 1,650 dwellings proposed by the JCS, on the local green fields of Leckhampton and Shurdington" and was agreed upon unanimously.

As part of the JCS, there are many public exhibitions being held throughout the county, they can be viewed by visiting the JCS website. Residents have until February 12 to have their say and can write to the Cheltenham Borough Council, letters need to be addressed to "JCS Consultation" and residents can also email their views to info@gct-jcs.org