Local trio Blythe Walker, Lance Fraser and Peter Miller are facing a potential baptism of fire during today’s start of the $100,000 Argo Group Gold Cup.Walker will take on Denmark’s Jesper Radich in the opening flight of this year’s World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) event, Finland’s Steffan Lindberg in his second and Italy’s Francesco Bruni in his third.Radich finished runner-up in last year’s Gold Cup after losing to England’s Ben Ainslie in the final while Bruni, who is ranked third in the world, is currently thick in the hunt for the WMRT championship.Walker is wary he has his work cut out for him in Group One.“It is what it is and you can’t change that,” he said. “I guess we’ll have to have an extra cup of coffee in the morning and then go sailing.”Walker, who finished third in the 2006 Gold Cup after beating Swiss rival Eric Monnin in the best-of-five Petite Final, is cautiously optimistic he can hold his own against his more illustrious opponents.“I think these guys obviously have an advantage coming in off the circuit but at the same time we’ve managed to beat a lot of guys of their calibre in the past in different races,” he said. “It’s just about the race, about Hamilton Harbour, getting clean starts and staying ahead.”Fraser, who made his Gold Cup debut last year, will also have his hands full in his opening three Group Two flights sailing against three match race skippers who are currently ranked among the top ten in the world.The Fitted Dinghy sailor will square off with multiple Gold Cup winner Peter Gilmour (Australia) in his opening flight, take on Gilmour’s compatriot Torvar Mirsky in his second and Kiwi Phil Robertson in his third.Mirsky is currently third in the WMRT points standings and fresh off winning last month’s St Moritz Match Race in Switzerland.Miller, who is making his Gold Cup debut this year, will lock horns with Frenchman Damien Ihel, past winner and WMRT points leader Ian Williams (England) and Monnin in his opening three Group Three flights.