Early Start For Golden Shears Punters

The TAB has taken the new step of opening betting on the Golden Shears more than a week before the annual championships start.

It’s thought to be the earliest start for Golden Shears punting since shearing competitions first came into the TAB frame in November 1998, just over two years a conscience vote in Parliament first allowed sports betting at the TAB, previously limited to just horse and greyhound racing.

The first book to open is on the winner of the PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit, the final of which will be shorn on the final night of the February 27-March 1 Golden Shears in Masterton.

Pools are also expected to be run on the winners of the Golden Shears Open shearing and woolhandling finals and shearing and woolhandling test matches between New Zealand and Australia.

The shearing circuit, which tests the versatility of shearers over five different wool types, started with a possible record 38 entries when the first round was held at the New Zealand Merino (finewool) championships in Alexandra in late-September.

With points awarded according to placings in each round, the shearers then shore long wool at the Waimate Spring Shears and the coarser wool of the New Zealand Corriedale championships, before moving to the North Island for lambshearing at the Rangitikei Shearing Sports in Marton on February 1.

The final preliminary round is on second-shear sheep at the Pahiatua Shears on Sunday, after which the top 12 will qualify for the final day at the Golden Shears, with series points then scrapped and the shearers pitched into semi-finals in the morning of March 1 leaving six for the evening’s final of 15 sheep each (three of each wool type), all based on shearing time and quality points the day.

Defending champion Nathan Stratford, of Invercargill, a near-perennial leader through the qualifying stages, and top qualifier at both Christchurch and Marton, has been installed a warm favourite to win the title for a fourth time, opening at $2.25.

Te Kuiti shearer Jack Fagan, who was third last year and then won the New Zealand Shears circuit in his home town, is second-favourite at $4.50 as he tries to join a list of winners dating back 52 years, including father Sir David Fagan, who won the circuit nine times between 1986 and 2009, in addition to 16 wins in the Golden Shears Open Championship.

Defending Golden Shears Open champion and 2021 circuit winner Leon Samuels, of Roxburgh, is third-favourite, while the current top 12 also includes former circuit winners Angus Moore, from Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay shearer John Kirkpatrick, and Paerata Abraham, of Masterton.

Based on current points the TAB sees only one outside that 12 still having a chance of qualifying.

https://www.tab.co.nz/sports/shearing/golden-shears/national-shearing-circuit/8ef69cc9-d353-48ac-95d3-f7abba623f93

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