Kirkpatrick wary of young guns

Napier shearer Napier shearer Johnny Kirkpatrick has cemented his position as favourite for the open title at this week's Golden Shears, starting in Masterton on Thursday.
In a series of outstanding performances, Kirkpatrick has made the finals of all 19 competitions he has contested this season, winning 13 and never finishing further back than third.
On Friday, the Hawke's Bay gun won the Taumarunui Jamboree open final. On Saturday, he was third in the Apiti AFC Sports final in Manawatu behind the up-and-coming Far North shearer Rowland Smith, and on Sunday he won the coveted Pahiatua Shears open title.
At Pahiatua Kirkpatrick shore his 20 sheep in the fastest time of 16min 30s and also posted the remarkable quality point score of just 0.75, the best of any in the three big finals over the three days.
His effort enabled him to win by the widish margin of 2.745pts from the reigning Golden Shears and world champion Cam Ferguson, of Waipawa.
Third was 2008 world champion Paul Avery from Taranaki, with Te Kutiti veteran Digger Balme fourth and Rowland Smith fifth.
The shock was the elimination in the quarter-finals of David Fagan - but with 16 Golden Shears open titles already in the bag, few will take notice of this failure when assessing his prospects in Masterton.
Delighted as he has been with his lead-up form, Kirkpatrick is taking nothing for granted at the Golden Shears where he won the open event in 2002 and 2008 - but has also suffered his share of heartbreak.
He said making it through the three elimination rounds was the objective and he wouldn't nominate anyone in particular as his main rival.
"The young guys are coming at us from everywhere", he said.
One of those young guys is certainly Rowland Smith, who was touted by David Fagan as a likely contender for the open title in a Times-Age article last week.
At that stage, bookies had Smith at 40-1 in the betting but he was at 15-1 after his win at Apiti on Saturday.
There Smith beat Fagan, Kirkpatrick, Avery and Ferguson in a blistering open final which saw him not only record the fastest time of 12min 37s for his 12 sheep but also pick up the best quality points.
It was the second major success in recent weeks for Smith, who also beat Fagan and Kirkpatrick in the Counties Shears final, and he also has a world two-stand ewe shearing record to his credit, having combined with brother Doug to set a new mark only last month.
The TAB have also shortened their Golden Shears odds for Kirkpatrick. He is now paying $2.20 and Fagan has also come down to $4.50.