Sheep racing

A minor dispute has emerged between Canterbury and Otago sports fans after a Christchurch man claimed that his new ‘sheep racing’ team was possibly a world first:

It began with Christchurch woolclasser David Cone saying at the weekend he had what he believed was New Zealand's, and possibly the world's, first sheep racing team. That, theoretically, put the international spotlight on the 12-sheep team's first outing, at the Brighton Gala Day on Sunday.

But Mr Cone's claims have been challenged by Otago sheep racing interests who point out that, not only did sheep race at last year's Taieri A and P Show, they will also be in the programme this Saturday, 24 hours before the Brighton event.

Actually there’s plenty of silly sheep racing going on out in the big wide world – see, for example, this English newspaper report from Peterborough from May 2008. Hurdling even!

- Source: Otago Daily Times, 20 January 2009