MEDIA RELEASE
On behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand
February 20, 2013

Coster low-priced favourite ironman shearing event

Three-times PGG Wrightson National shearing champion Tony Coster, of Rakaia, has been installed a warm favourite to regain the title at the 53rd Golden Shears in Masterton next week.

Winner of the event and consequently recognised as the country’s top all-breeds shearer from 2009-2011, and leading the points going into the final qualifying round at Pahiatua on Sunday, Coster was a $2.75 favourite when odds were released by the TAB this week.

The TAB is also today expected to release odds for the premier Golden Shears Open shearing and woolhandling championships.

Coster is guaranteed a place in the top 12 qualifiers for the National showdown without having to shear at Pahiatua.

But the situation’s a little precarious for Southland gun Nathan Stratford who is a $4 second favourite, despite currently teetering in 12th place and needing points to secure his position. Fellow Southlander Darin Forde, a four-times winner who was runner-up last year, is third-favourite, despite also needing points to secure his place, and heads 2012 winner and currently third-ppaced Angus Moore, from Ward in Marlborough but now living at Kaitangata, South Otago.
Golden Shears champion John Kirkpatrick, of Napier, is next despite having not previously reached the final of the event, and the TAB is being cautious with World champion Gavin Mutch, a Scottish farmer living at Whangamomona in Taranaki and who is at $15 while still needing a substantial placing in the Pahiatua show’s heats to reach the top 12.

The points are based on placings on the compulsory opening round at the more specialist fineweool merino championships in Alexandra in October, the fullwool of Waimate’s Spring Shears, the coarse-wooled corriedales of the Canterbury Show, the national lambshearing champion at Raglan and this week’s second-shear competition at Pahiatua.

Points are scrapped after the qualifying stages, and semi-finals and a final will be shorn in Masterton on all five of the wool types, the winner decided on time and shearing points.

It’s the 40th anniversary of the National, incorporating the McSkimming Memorial Triple Crown, first won by Waikato shearer Joe Ferguson in 1973.

Points and placings after four of the five-qualifying rounds this year were:
Top 12: Tony Coster (Rakaia) 27pts, 1; Grant Smith (Rakaia) 26pts, 2; Angus Moore (Kaitangata) and John Kirkpatrick (Napier) 24pts, 3eq; Gavin Rowland (Dunsandel) 23pts, 5; Tony Nott (Blenheim) 18pts, 6; Tom Wilson (Darfield) and Axle Reid (Taihape) 17pts, 7eq; Darin Forde (Winton) 14pts; 9; Chris Vickers (Palmerston) and Doug Smith (Ruawai) 13pts, 10eq; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill), 12pts, 12.
Others vying for places in the semi-finals are: Shaun Mathieson (Riverton), Jason Win (Reefton, now Coleraine, Vic), Chris Jones (Renwick) and Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 11pts, 13eq; Josh Hull (Australia) 10pts, 17; Colin O’Neill (Alexandra), James Fagan (Te Kuiti) and Tipene Te Whata (Tautoro) 7pts, 18eq; Andy Mainland (Invercargill) 6pts, 21; Gavin Mutch (Whangamomona) 4pts, 22.
TAB Odds: $2.75 Tony Coster; $4 Nathan Stratford; $5 Darin Forde; $6 Angus Moore; $10 John Kirkpatrick; $15 James Fagan, Gavin Mutch; $30 Paerata Abraham, Shaun Mathieson; $40 Grant Smith, Gavin Rowland; $50 Tony Nott, Tom Wilson, Axle Reid, Chris Vickers, Doug Smith, Chris Jones.

ENDS