TAB offers betting on Golden Shears

New Zealand TAB will offer various betting opportunities on the annual Golden Shears Shearing Championship to be held in Masterton, 3-6 March 2010.

Masterton-based TAB shearing Bookie Kieran McAnulty said the TAB was very excited about expanding the betting opportunities on offer for the Golden Shears and all involved looked forward to carrying the momentum forward to other shearing events in the future.

“The TAB has never previously offered so many betting opportunities on the Golden Shears and with the whole event attracting considerable attention from New Zealanders, we expect a large amount of interest,” he said.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for punters to get involved in what is an important event in New Zealand’s sporting calendar and cultural identity. We look forward to providing punters with further options for other shearing events, such as the New Zealand Shearing Champs and World Championship.”

Betting opportunities will include Head to Head options, where punters have a chance to back John Kirkpatrick ($1.52) vs. Paul Avery ($2.40), David Fagan ($1.57) vs. up-and-comer Cam Ferguson ($2.30), and Dean Ball ($1.87) vs. the previous champion Dion King ($1.87).

Soon to be included is a top 3 (place) option, odds-on the PGG Wrightson National Circuit Series, and the Trans-Tasman Shearing test, with New Zealand clear favourites at $1.20 over the Australian team ($4.20).

The Golden Shears Championship will be awarded on a combination of time, job and quality penalties, with the lowest score winning. The time is calculated at a point for every 20 seconds, with job points being recorded by judges on the board as the sheep are shorn and quality points by judges in the pens after each sheep have been shorn.

As always, this year sees an impressive array of local and overseas shearers vying for world shearing’s greatest honour.

“The Golden Shears is the ultimate accolade for any international shearer which always brings the best out of each competitor. Although we have named our favourites, the TAB is fully aware of the possibility of an upset this year, especially given it is the 50th anniversary and everyone is desperate to get their name on the trophy,” said Kieran.

Napier’s John Kirkpatrick, Te Kuiti’s David Fagan and World Champion Paul Avery of Toki are New Zealand’s greatest hopes, competing against an international contingent led by Gavin Mutch of Scotland and Australian Champion Shannon Warnest.

John Kirkpatrick is $2.50 favourite to add to his 2008 title. However, World Champion Paul Avery ($4.00) and Golden Shears’ legend David Fagan ($6.00) are also highly favoured by the TAB. “These boys have hearts the size of Rimu trees, so really any competitor who qualifies for the Open Final can take it out.”

The NZ Racing Board is committed to increasing the profile of shearing by passing a proportion of funds placed with the TAB back to New Zealand Shearing, so “we see expanding our betting opportunities to include options such as Top 3, Head to Head, PGG Wrightson National Circuit Final, and the Trans-Tasman Test, as an extension of that commitment,” he said.