In an historic day, the judges' decisions selecting the supreme champions came so late in the day because of the record entries and the fierce competition, during a remarkable day's judging.

Nearly 500 entries doubled those at last year's Sydney Royal.

The supreme suri went to Kurrawa Just In Time ET, owned by Robert, Ann and Natasha Clark from Kurrawa alpaca stud, Bellrae, Vic, who were on their first showing at a Sydney Royal.

An emotional judge, Jill MacLeod from Albuquerque, Canada, said the suri drawn from the white male 18 to 24 months class had set a new standard for which she would be judging all other suris.

"My opinion right now with Suris is that Australia sets the (world) standard," Ms MacLeod said.

Shanbrooke Society Razor Sharp owned by Dianne Condon, husband Ron and daughter Brooke, Shanbrooke Alpacas, Yea, Vic, took the supreme Huacaya alpaca title.

The strong showing comes in the lead up to next weekend's World Alpaca Conference being held after the judging at Sydney.

SOURCE: Extract from report of this week's Sydney Royal Show competitions in The Land, NSW, published on March 27.