Benefiting from the circumstances was single shepherd Cam Gallien, who in the nervous days before the big night had been aware he would be "on-call" to run the farm over the weekend if the bosses were to get their break.
With the change of plans, he gets to go hunting.
Farming Kohurau has been about flexibility of plans, as the couple settled on the property over the last 11 years with daughter Sammy, a 20-year-old recent Queenstown Resort College graduate, and son Henry, now 15 and boarding at Napier Boys' High School.
Rising from an altitude of about 620m at the house to 720m "at the top", it has its share of extremes - the perfection of yesterday contrasting with about four snowfalls a year, and a lot of wind.
It was once much covered in scrub, but the Sinclairs have taken it to another level, particularly since Mr Sinclair, now 48, kicked a rock "halfway up one of the faces" and opened up a spring - the simple way of explaining the irrigation which now feeds about 90 troughs, crucial to establishment of paddocks more manageably at no more than about 10ha, which keeps the fencing going at around 2km a year.
The business, which has a second smaller block off River Rd, 20km away, runs 3300 ewes, 1000 hoggets, 100 cows, and heifers and steers.
The 30-year-old woolshed will see all the sheep shorn twice in the year, as well as about 7000 lambs.
The plans included having to be prepared for winning the title, after being a finalist in the previous two years. Getting that far had meant they were in the running.
"You know you're in with a chance," he said.
And if they achieved the goal they would have to be ready for the field day on April 21, which is expected to attract 250-300 people.
Daunting, like speaking in front of 400 people last Wednesday.
But Mr Sinclair says: "I'm not a technical sort of guy.
"I like to keep it simple."
