Ben Ainslie, Great Britain's four-time Olympic medallist and the fifth ranked skipper on the World Match Racing Tour, retained the Argo Group Gold Cup yesterday and picked up the $50,000 cash prize.

He and his TeamOrigin crew defeated Denmark's Jesper Radich 3-1 in the final.

Last year's winner Ainslie used classic match racing tactics to continually attack Radich and his Gaastra Racing Team, ranked eighth on the Tour.

Radich's second place finish earned the team $20,000.

Ainslie is only the second skipper to win the King Edward VII Gold Cup Trophy two years in a row since the event was reformatted in 1984. Russell Coutts also pulled off a double in 1992 and 1993.

As expected, yesterday's action was tense and aggressive.

Radich took the first race, extending his winning streak to 13 races in this Gold Cup, but that proved to be his unlucky number.

Ainslie soon got down to business. He shut out Radich for the rest of the day, taking three straight races to seal the deal.

Tied one to one, and trailing by less than a boat length on the first downwind leg of the third race, Ainslie pushed Radich towards the port lay line, staying in control and not letting Radich gybe for the mark.

Finally, Radich thought he was clear ahead with room to turn. but when he did, the on-the-water umpires ruled that he turned too close

The red-flagged Radich had to take his turn immediately. From that point on, Ainslie continued to open his lead for his second victory of the day.

In the final race, with the score 2-1, Ainslie attacked again on the first downwind leg and put two penalties on Radich. At one time during the continuing luffing duel, the umpires flew simultaneous blue and yellow flags penalising both boats and cancelling the penalties immediately. Radich still had two penalties so he had to clear one immediately.

At the end of the final two-lap race, Ainslie led across the finish by close to half of the leeward leg. He dropped his spinnaker 50 yards from the line and hugged his mates as they crossed to the sound of boat horns and cheers for the spectator fleet.

"We made it hard for ourselves all week," Ainslie said, "But we battled hardened and I think it helped us today. Today's final was classic match racing all the way and it was fantastic sailing against Radich.

"We did put the match in the umpires' hands. All of us know that when you play at this level, the race is sometimes decided by the umpire. We were lucky in both the third and the final race that the call went our way.

"There were plenty of flags in the final. Both teams made some mistakes and it was very tight. That is match racing. Some of our calls went our way at the right times.

"It has been a tough week for all of our guys from TeamOrigin and the win has been great for us. The day before we flew out from England, we learned that Sir Keith Mills had taken TeamOrigin out of the Cup. It has been hard on all of us. I have to thank the team for making the best of things this week."

Gracious in defeat, Jasper Radich said, "It has been an honour racing against the best in the world. Ben and his team are definitely that. I have to say I highly disagree with the umpires in the last race. It was a tough way to end the finals. I would have liked to have gone to the full five races.

"Agreeing with Ainslie, he also added, "When you race at this level it does can come down to umpires' calls.

"I have to say that with conditions like we have had in Bermuda all week, match racing can't get any better. Sailing here is ideal.

"The boats have a certain momentum and it gives you the opportunity to really go on the attack. I was proud to be able to give them a fight. As I said, Ainslie and his team are the best in the world."

Earlier in the day, 2008 Gold Cup winner Johnie Berntsson of Sweden won the Petite Finals to take third place and $10,000 over Eric Monnin's Swiss Match Race Team. Monnin's fourth place finish earned him $7,000.

Saturday matches had already determined fifth through eighth places. Adam Minoprio (NZL) was fifth for $5,500, Taylor Canfield (USVI) was sixth, winning $,4000, Reuben Corbett (NZL), who was seventh, took $2500 and Torvar Mirsky (AUS) in eighthposition, won $1,000.