Torvar Mirsky kept his perfect score yesterday morning to lead Group Three in the Argo Group Gold Cup.

His Mirsky Racing Team, ranked number three in the World Match Racing Tour before the event, moved on to the quarter-finals with the best record so far. Also qualifying automatically in Group Three was 2008 Gold Cup champion Johnie Berntsson of Sweden. He's collected five wins.

Mirsky defeated Great Britain's fourth ranked Ian Williams and the Team GAC Pindar, sponsored by Argo Group, in their Flight Seven match to maintain his momentum. Williams was knocked into the repechage 'second chance' series by the loss to Mirsky.

But the story of the day had to be the top-flight performance of Gold Cup newcomer Taylor Canfield from St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

He earned automatic entry into the quarter-finals from Group One with five wins.

A 21-year-old student at Boston College, Canfield lost only to the other Group One automatic qualifier Jasper Radich from Denmark.

Radich won the King Edward VII Gold Cup trophy in 2002 and his Gaastra Racing Team stand in eighthh place on the Tour. He was number one in the group and Canfield number two.

Canfield, a Gold Cup rookie, said going into the event: "I think the IODs will be very challenging as far as their responsiveness and my lack of time in the boats.

"This is also my first world tour/grade one event, making it extremely stressful and nerve-racking. We are a young team with nothing to lose. We have sailed tougher for quite some time now."

Yesterday, he praised his crew for the superb results so far. "They are doing a great job getting us around the course. We feel like we are comfortable in the IODs now."

"This is my first world match racing tour event and it has been really great," he added. "In the Virgin Islands we do a lot of keel boat match racing and now, all of a sudden, it is catching on in the USA.

"One of our bigger college events this fall will be a match race. I can see that this World Tour is a great opportunity . . . my goal right now is to finish college and I even have a paper due on Friday at midnight, but I wouldn't mind giving this a try as soon as I graduate."

Canfield's father, Bill Canfield, a director of the Rolex Regatta in St. Thomas, wasn't planning on such a good result. He is leaving today on business and said: " I'm pleasurably pleased. He's a good sailor and proving it here. It is great that colleges in the United States are starting to match race. It brings a new group of young people into the sport."

Over in Group Two, Swiss sailor Eric Monnin was alone at the top with a 5-1 record.

A surprised Reuben Corbett, who moved up to second in the group, joined him directly in the quarter-finals.

Sailing into the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club marina after losing his match yesterday with Jakub Pawluk, Corbett thought he would have to sail in the repechage to qualify. However, Ben Ainslie's win over Adam Minoprio put both of them into the repechage and moved the young New Zealander directly into the finals.

Relaxing at RBYC after winning his group, Monnin, who finished fourth in 2009 said: "We won the round robin and we are thrilled with that. We have had quite a good year and with the same team as last year. Everything is going well for us. We are here at the Gold Cup for the seventh time and in the six prior times we have been here, we have raced twice in the final rounds on Sunday. So yes, being around until Sunday is a big goal for us."

"Today was great sailing for us," he added. "We actually like the light air and since we are Swiss we are used to the light, fluky air in the Swiss lakes. We are a light crew and so the light air is good for us. Tomorrow (today) will be a little more challenging for us as it is meant to be a very windy day."

World Match Racing Tour points-leader Mathieu Richard from France, who won here in 2007, reaped only 2.5 points and failed to make the cut.

That loss poses a serious threat to his hopes of winning the overall Tour Championship. He must now win the Monsoon Cup in November to stand a chance.

The six teams that placed third and fourth in each group will sail the 'last chance' repechage with the winners and runners-up filling the last two quarter-final slots.

In Group One, third place went to Denmark's Bjorn Hansen, ninth on the tour, and fourth place was 23-year-old Kiwi Phil Robertson.

Group Two skippers, Ainslie, number five on the tour and Minoprio, the Tour's second rank sailor, will have another chance. Group Three rounds out the six-team fleet with Williams, Great Britain's the Tour's number four, and Portugal's Marinho from Portugal.

The repechage group was scheduled to sail yesterday afternoon but they only managed to get in one flight due to lack of a breeze.

Winners in the 3-5 knot drifter were Minoprio, Williams and Ainslie.

The flight's two to five matches were postponed until 8.00 this morning. The repechage will be followed directly by the quarter-finals.

If weather permits, the popular Pro-Am that matches sponsors and dignitaries with Gold Cup teams for shore-course fleet racing on Hamilton Harbour will be sailed as scheduled this afternoon.

With the big wind predicted today, exciting competition is expected among this group that includes some of the top ranked sailors in the world.

Quarter-finalists

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 6-0

Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team 6-1

Taylor Canfield (USA) 6-1

Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Racing Team 5-1

Johnnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 5-1

Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing 4-2

Proceeding to qualifying session play-off

Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 4-2

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAM ORIGIN 4-2

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar sponsored by Argo Group 4-2

Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth Sailing Team 3-3

Phil Robertson (NZL) Waka Racing 3-4

Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Racing Team 3-4