Male woolhandlers scored a rare treble in taking all three titles at the Pre-Shears Championships held at Riverside Farm Masterton on Wednesday.
The Open final was won by World champion Joel Henare, the Senior title by Logan Kamura, of Marton, and the Junior final by South-Island based Daine Rehe, from Te Teko.
The Open triumph was Henare's sixth win of the season, probably enough to go into Golden Shears an outright favourite, just hours after the TAB was unable to separate Henare and Te Awamutu woolhandler Keryn Herbert on the top line of odds as each tries to win a Golden Shears Open title for the first time.
In Wednesday's event Kimbolton woolhandler and farmer Veronica (Ronnie) Goss loomed even larger as a candidate to win a second Golden Shears Open when she was runner-up.
Reigning New Zealand Open champion Sheree Alabaster, of Taihape, was third and Herbert had to settle for fourth.
