The win followed his big New Zealand titles double in the first week of the new season, when he won the New Zealand Merino title at Alexandra on September 30 and the New Zealand Spring Shears title on long-wooled crossbreds seven days later at Waimate, and it completed a treble at Ashburton where he had also won the event in 2016 and 2017.
It was a particularly well-fought victory on Saturday as Mr Stratford was third to finish, with a fourth place for Pleasant Point shearer Ant Frew who claimed the fastest time for the 20 sheep.
Just 24 seconds separated all five shearers in the showdown.
Mr Stratford claimed victory by 1.64 points overall from Mataura shearer Brett Roberts, who was last to switch off but also had the quality to see off the rest of the field.
Rakaia shearer Alex Smith had his second senior win, after three third placings at the start of his third season in the grade.
He had the quality to win by 0.8 points from Chilean shearer Luis Pincol, and 0.22 points further to Rangiora show winner and Waimate and Ellesmere runner-up Jade Maguire Ratima, of Winton, settling for third after finishing the 12 sheep first and beating Smith by 25 seconds.
John Cherrington, from Ngaruawahia, made it two-from-two in intermediate finals, adding the Ashburton title to a New Zealand Spring Shears title won at Waimate.
In a contest of five sheep each he finished 1min 18sec ahead of next-man-off Tyson Crown, of Mataura, while English shearer Henry Mayo scored his fourth junior win in New Zealand, in a shearing event held over two rounds.
