Dipton man produces one of NZ shearing's biggest upsets
On Saturday, in one of two 20-sheep Open finals at the last major South Island competition before the Golden Shears Corey Palmer won a premier title by 1.167pts from runner-up Jack Fagan.
Dipton shearer Corey Palmer scored one of the biggest upset wins in recent Open-class shearing in New Zealand when he won the South Island Shearer of the Year final on the second day of the two-day Southern Shears in Gore on Saturday.
Palmer hadn’t won a final since graduating after winning six Senior finals in the 2012-2013 season, including the 2013 Golden Shears Senior title in Masterton, but he had increasingly started mixing it with the top guns, including third place seven days earlier in the Otago Shears Open final.
On Saturday, in one of two 20-sheep Open finals at the last major South Island competition before the February 27-March 1 Golden Shears, he won a premier title by 1.167pts from runner-up Jack Fagan, of Te Kuiti, who in finishing first in 17m 19,34s, had beaten Palmer by more than 50 seconds - equated at more than 2.5 time points.
Casey Bailey, of Riverton, was third, Marlborough shearer Angus Moore was 4th, born-again Open hopeful Justin Meikle, of Oamaru, was 5th, and Wairarapa gun David Buick was 6th.
Palmer’s superior quality points carried a busy day, which had included two preliminary rounds (one of of 10 ewes, the other of 10 lambs), along with the heats, semi-finals and 20-sheep final of the Southern Shears Open championship, in which he was sixth.
Northland shearer Toa Henderson did not defend the shearer of the year title he won last year, instead successfully focusing on the Open final in which he beat runner-up Bailey by just under half a point to head a field of the country’s top shearers in the first event of a near year-long 2026 World Championships New Zealand team selection series.
Shearing the 20-sheep final in 16m 22.96s, Henderson beat next-man-off Casey Bailey, of Riverton, by 23.79 seconds and 0.4895pts in the final count, with Buick third, 2014, 2019 and 2023 World championships representative (and 2014 World champion) Rowland Smith, of Maraekakaho, securing fourth place, ahead of 2017 World champion John Kirkpatrick of Pakipaki.
Henderson had won the Otago Shears Open title seven days earlier the two wins confirm a place among the Golden Shears Open title TAB favouritism, despite being yet to shear in its final.
On Saturday he also spearheaded the North Island to a win by less than two points in the twice-annual interisland shearing test, well supported by Buick and Masterton shearer David Gordon, Henderson taking individual honours by 0.053pts.
Hawke’s Bay shearer Bruce Grace won the Senior final by less than four-tenths of a point from local hope Brodie Horrell, South Australian shearer Daniel Michelmore won the Intermediate final by 0.669pts from Welshman Evan Rowbotham, Oamaru teenager Tye Meikle added the Southern Shears to a string of title successes during the summer, Aimee Atkin, from Masterton won the Novice event, and Emma Martin from Wyndham won the women’s event, completing a successful two days at her local show in which she won the Senior woolhandling final on Friday.
RESULTS from the Southern Shears Shearing championships at Gore on Saturday, February 15, 2025:
Inter-Island (10 sheep): North Island (Toa Henderson 8m 12.97s, 30.7485pts; David Buick 9m 13.78s, 31.489pts; David Gordon 9m 9s, 32.55pts) 94.7875pts, beat South Island (Leon Samuels 9m 0.03s, 30.8015pts; Brett Roberts 8m 55.93s, 32.0965pts; Nathan Stratford 9m 52.38s, 33.819pts) 96.717pts.
South Island Shearer of the Year final (20 sheep): Corey Palmer (Dipton) 18m 12s, 59.5pts, 1; Jack Fagan (Te Kuiti) 17m 19.34s, 60.667pts, 2; Casey Bailey (Riverton) 18m 33.84s, 61.092pts, 3; Angus Moore (Ward) 17m 20.72s, 61.986pts, 4; Justin Meikle (Oamaru) 18m 6.72s, 62.036pts, 5; David Buick (Pongaroa) 18m 21.5s, 62.425pts, 6.
Southern Shears:
Open final (20 sheep): Toa Henderson (Kaiwaka) 16m 22.96s, 53.998pts, 1; Casey Bailey (Riverton) 16m 47.75s, 54.4875pts, 2; David Buick (Pongaroa) 16m 52.97s, 55.5485pts, 3; Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho) 17m 16.03s, 55.9015pts, 4; John Kirkpatrick (Pakipaki) 17m 15.4s, 56.52pts, 5; Corey Palmer (Dipton) 17m 33.7s, 56.635pts, 6.
Senior final (10 sheep): Bruce Grace (Wairoa) 10m 14.28s, 37.914pts, 1; Brodie Horrell (Gore) 11m 13.97s, 38.2985pts, 2; John Cherrington (Oamaru) 11m 12.09s, 39.9045pts, 3; Blake McKenzie (Riverton) 11m 15.13s, 41.0565pts, 4; Dre Roberts (Mataura) 11m 18.84s, 41.342pts, 5; Richard Lancaster (Clitheroe, England) 11m 2.03s, 42.6015pts, 6.
Intermediate final (5 sheep): Daniel Michelmore (Yorketown, South Australia) 7m 16.06s, 29.803pts, 1; Evan Rowbotham (Pontrhydfendigaid, Wales) 7m 13.44s, 30.472pts, 2; Connor Wilkinson (Wyndham) 8m 6.53s, 31.5265pts, 3; Paddy Dunne (Wicklow, Ireland) 7m 40.4s, 32.22pts, 4; Jet Schimanski (Gore) 8m 16.2s, 33.031pts, 5; Caleb Brooking (Mataura) 7m 57.19s, 33.8595pts, 6.
Junior final (3 sheep): Tye Meikle (Oamaru) 4m 6.31s, 19.6488pts, 1; Joseph Scahill (Mayo, Ireland) 4m 9.68s, 20.8173pts, 2; Paddy Hudson (Hokonui) 4m 52.62s, 20.9643pts, 3; Reuben Wilkinson (Wyndham) 4m 28.22s, 23.7443pts, 4; Galaxy Waihape (Mataura) 6m 36.69s, 30.5012pts, 5; Ryan O’Neill (Alexandra) 6m 28.93s, 33.1132pts, 6.
Novice (1 sheep): Aimee Atkin (Masterton) 4m 27s, 16.35pts, 1; Bridee Wilkinson (Wyndham) 5m 37.84s, 19.89pts, 2; Jake Watt (Owaka) 4m 3.91s, 23.2pts, 3; Abbey Mallise (Barraba, New South Wales) 4m 54s, 24.7pts, 4; Ffion Jones (Wales) 6m 16.66s, 26.83pts, 5; Kayden Gaffery (Owaka) 4m 30s, 31.5pts, 6.
Women (3 sheep): Emma Martin (Wyndham) 5m 22.6s, 20.8012pts, 1; Emilia Melinng (Norway) 6m 2.78s, 24.139pts, 2; Ally Johnson (Barraba, New South Wales) 6m 43.59s, 25.8462pts, 3; Jana Sinova (Czech Republic) 6m 5.31s, 26.5988pts, 4; Cushla Abraham (Masterton) 7m 35.31s, 29.0988pts, 5; Tarryn Perriam (Gore) 8m 35.06s, 31.753pts, 6.
Foonie's wins are rare, but great when it matters…
Alexandra woolhandler Foonie Waihape had only had three Open final wins in more than a decade of trying, but it all came together when it really mattered as she won her second Southern Shears final in Gore on Friday
An open-class competitor since graduating after two Senior wins in 2014, it was a successful return to the scene of her first win in the top class in 2021.
With 35 competitors starting, Waihape was top qualifier in the heats and the semi-finals, and then dominated two-times World champion Joel Henare to not only win the final but claim maximum points in the first round of a near year-long series to find two New Zealand representatives for the next World Championships in Masterton next year, after missing out by one place on making the team for Edinburgh two years ago.
Scoring her second win of the season, having won the New Zealand Crossbred Lambs woolhandling title in Winton on January 18, she also moved into second place in the South Island Woolhandling Circuit.
The performance in a three-way Southern Shears final was thorough, with Waihape claiming best time and board-job points, and equal-best on oddments and fleece, as the woolhanders worked on not only trying to win but also doing their best to protect the value of the wool to the farmer.
It opened-up a winning margin of 25.756 points to South Island-based Henare, from Gisborne, with third place going to Krome Elers, of Mataura.
It was just the third top-three placing this season for Waihape, who was also runner-up at the New Zealand Merino championships in October, won by Pagan Rimene.
Rimene, also of Alexandra, was also the defending Southern Shears champion and last-start winner of the New Zealand Woolhandler of the Year title at the Otago Shears on February 8, but was eliminated in Friday’s heats, as 12 others went through to the semi-finals.
Waihape won the Wairarapa Pre-Shears Woolhandling Championships two years ago and four days later was third in a World championships selection series in which the first two qualified to represent New Zealand in the 2023 World Championships in Scotland.
She has also proven adept with the handpiece, winning a Waimate Spring Shears women’s event in 2019.
Reigning South Island Senior woolhandling circuit champion Emma Martin, from Wyndham, followed up a second place at the Otago Shears to win Friday’s Senior final, while Marilyn Harrison, from Balclutha, showed particular versatility in winning the Junior final, a second-shear wool success to go with winning on full-wool at Lumsden on January 17 and lambs wool at Winton the next day.
The Southern Shears was the last South Island woolhandling competition heading into four big competitions in the north – the Tamarunui Shears on Friday, the Apiri YFC Sports Shears on Saturday, the Wairarapa Pre-Shears woolhandling championships on February 26, and the Golden Shears over the following three days.
Meanwhile, organisers of the South Island woolhandling circuit have confirmed small numbers of entries in its Senior and Junior classes will mean only the Open grade will continue, with remaining rounds at Mackenzie A and P show’s national lambshearing championships in April and the New Zealand Merino Shears in Alexandra in October, before the title is decided at Waimate.
The Open circuit has 10 entries, with Henare, Waihape, and Amy-Lee Ferguson and Taiwha Nelson, both also of Alexandra, heading the race for the four places in the final.
Woolhandling:
Open final: Foonie Waihape (Alexandra) 106.894pts, 1; Joel Henare (Gisborne/Motueka) 132.65pts, 2; Krome Elers (Mataura) 180.16pts. Also: Amy-Lee Ferguson (Alexandra) 4, Candy Hiri (Mataura) 5, Cushla Abraham (Masterton) 6.
Senior final: Emma Martin (Gore) 134.35pts, 1; Amy Bell (Weber) 150.18pts, 2; Ashley Clarke (Gore) 156.25pts, 3; Lucy Elers (Mataura) 182.41pts, 4. Also: Krystal Gulliver (Gore) 5, Tatijana Keefe (Raupunga) 6.
Junior final: Marilyn Harrison (Taumarunui) 106.84pts, 1; Ella Harvey (Australia) 124.494pts, 2; Alyssa Bartlett (Gore) 126.22pts, 3; Vicky Kawenga (Mataura) 137.432pts. Also: Jasmine Emery (Oamaru) 5, Grace Croasdale (Masterton) 6.
Great results ... well done :)