Axle Grinds Way To First Open Shearing Win

Hawke’s Bay-based Taihape shearer Axle Reid has cracked the big “W” in what was already shaping as his best season in more than 15 years in the open class.

A regular at central North Island competitions his best win in New Zealand had been in an Open invitation event on the final night of the Golden Shears in 2018, but, shearing in the Open-class since the start f the 2009-2010 season, having finished third in the Golden Shears Senior final the previous March, bur he has won a final at Waterville in Ireland and two in South Australia, at Yallunda Flat and Millicent.

He says he “retired” in 2021, but came back, started knocking on the door when reaching the finals at A-grade shows Taihape and Marton and finishing second at the Kaikoura A and P Show and fourth at the Hawke’s Bay Autumn Shears, before heading for the Golden Shears where he was fifth in the PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit final, with just 0.077pts separating him from third place.

There were over 40 shearers across five classes at Mayfield, in Mid-Canterbury, with a good spread of Golden Shears form, and of the nine in the Open it was Reid who came through for a win by 0.55pts from Mataura shearer Brett Roberts, who seven days earlier reached the Golden Shears Open final for the first time in more than a decade of trying.

Third was comeback-king and Oamaru farmer Justin Meikle, who has had four wins in smaller shows this season and was fourth in the national circuit final in Masterton.

Reid, who is also a qualified shearing judge, is shearing for Grant Smith, having decided to go south as the work eased-off in Hawke’s Bay, and plans to do other shows in the area.

Roberts’ brother, Dre, had his third win of the season when he claimed the Mayfield Senior title, occasional competitor Mark Gill, of Ohai, won the Intermediate final, and Meikle’s son, Tye, returned to winning form in the Junior final, a week after being runner-up at the Golden Shears.

The Blades doubled as the second round of the clippers’ 2026 World championships New Zealand team selection series, with Lower Hutt-based World Champion Allan Oldfield, from Geraldine, having his first win since March 2023, back on the trial targeting a repeat of the World title he won in France in 2019.

He shore the five sheep in 16m 12s, to finish almost a minute before World teams champion teammate Tony Dobbs, of Fairlie, and won by 3.31pts.

RESULTS from the Mayfied A and P Show Shears on Saturday, March 8, 2025:

Open final (15 sheep): Axle Reid (Taihape/Waipawa) 15m 0.02s, 48.26pts, 1; Brett Roberts (Mataura) 14m 47s, 48.81pts, 2; Justin Meikle (Oamaru) 14m 40s, 49.19pts, 3; Ant Frew (Pleasant Point) 15m 0.05s, 49.46pts, 4.

Senior final (9 sheep): Dre Roberts (Mataura) 10m 40s, 36.1pts, 1; Zion Smith (Christchurch) 10m 23s, 38.37pts, 2; James Wilson (Winton) 11m 20s, 38.43pts, 3; Billy Powell (Wales) 10m 37s, 46.06pts, 4.

Intermediate final (7 sheep): Mark Gill (Ohai) 11m 55s, 41.74pts, 1; Caleb Brooking (Mataura) 12m 32s, 42.31pts, 2; Lucas Vallejo (Argentina/Geraldine) 11m 37s, 45.41pts, 3; Bastian González (Porvenir, Chile) 12m 26s, 45.57pts, 4.

Junior final (3 sheep): Tye Meikle (Oamaru) 9m 43s, 39.14pts, 1; Tamati Dennison (Kurow) 12m, 47.66pts, 2; Tyran Smith (Christchurch) 1m 56s, 61.43pts, 3; Jacob Booth (Waimate) 15m, 64.66pts, 4.

Blades (5 sheep): Allan Oldfield (Geraldine/Lower Hutt) 16m 12s, 54.23pts, 1; Tony Dobbs (Fairlie) 17m 11s, 57.55pts, 2; Phil Oldfield (Geraldine) 17m 15s, 60.75pts, 3; Tim Hogg (Timaru) 18m 3s, 68.15pts, 4.

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