MEDIA RELEASE On behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand March 29, 2011

Fair bet for rising shears champion Smith

A second win in the three weeks since finishing runner-up at the Golden Shears has seen Far North shearer Rowland Smith installed as the TAB's most favoured pick to beat prolific champion John Kirkpatrick in the Hawke's Bay gun's bid to win a third New Zealand Open Shearing Championship this week. With Kirkpatrick the clear favourite paying a surprisingly loose $2 to win the final in Te Kuiti on Saturday night, Smith has been made second-favourite at $4, heading-off reigning champion and King Country hero David Fagan, who was quoted at $6 when the TAB opened three books on the event yesterday.

The TAB also has options on top-three finishes and for shearers to make the six-man final, with Kirkpatrick again the hot favourite at $1.10 and $1.22 respectively after winning 15 finals during the season, and finishing in the top three in seven others. Kirkpatrick, who won his third Golden Shears Open title in Masterton on March 5, won the NZ Open in 2008 and 2009 but was a shock premature elimination last year when Fagan won for a 17th time, just edging surprise runner-up Smith.

The TAB, which also has win betting on the NZ Open woolhandling title, has gone largely with Golden Shears form, the main exception being keeping World Champion Cam Ferguson honest at $9, after the Central Hawke's Bay shearer's surprise quaterfinals elimination when defending his Golden Shears title in Masterton. The New Zealand Championships start on Thursday with eight shearing and woolhandling championships to be decided, along with the North Island Shearer of the Year and New Zealand Shears Circuit titles.

Other features include a test between New Zealand and Wales, expected to be World champion pair Ferguson and Fagan's last appearance together in the black singlet, and an inter-island match in which the North Island shearing and woolhandling team will be out to avenge the South's triumph at the Southern Shears in Gore in February.

Prime Minister John Key is again an official guest in the town which will also stage it's Running of the Sheep on Saturday afternoon. Almost 40 shearers have been quoted by the TAB in its shearing championships win odds. Leading hopes are:

$2 John Kirkpatrick $4 Rowland Smith $6 David Fagan $9 Cam Ferguson $12 Paul Avery $20 Dion King $25 Adam Brausch $30 Dean Ball, Nathan Stratford $40 Digger Balme, James Fagan, Jason Win

ENDS