05/30/2026
by James Pacheco
Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix Saturday Recap: BONDS Flying Roos and Los Gallos In Two-Way Tussle
If you missed the action on Saturday, here’s your recap of who won what, at what odds, and how the betting is looking ahead of Sunday’s racing.
15.38 Outsiders Take Race 1
The BONDS Flying Roos SailGP team’s outstanding record of three wins and a runner-up spot in the opening race of the four events staged so far this season was highlighted in both our pre-event preview and the live blog, but it wasn’t to be for Tom Slingsby and his crew this time around.
After a slow start, they bounced back to put their F50 in a position to pounce, but a penalty for fouling the Los Gallos SailGP Team cost them time and momentum, and from that stage onwards, it was just about picking up as many points as possible; in the end, they got three for their eighth-place finish.
Instead, the opening race went the way of the United States SailGP Team, who pretty much went wire to wire.
Not for the first time this season, Taylor Canfield was the fastest out of the blocks, and it wasn’t a lead he was ever going to give up. In good conditions, it was plain sailing from thereon, Caulfield not having to worry about what was going on behind his boat.
They’d gone into the race as the eighth biggest-priced team of the 12 at odds of 15.38; yet another big payout for their backers after that extraordinary event win against all odds at the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix when they rewarded those who backed them at odds of 60.0.
Fellow North Americans the NorthStar SailGP Team followed them home in second, with the Germany SailGP Team Presented by Deutsche Bank in third.
BONDS Flying Roos and Los Gallos take Races 2 and 3
But we didn’t have to wait long for yet another Aussie race win in the Rolex SailGP Championship.
Canfield started super quickly once again in Race 2, but this time around his efforts were matched by Slingby, who was first to mark one. Just as had happened in the opening race, the first boat to get to mark one was the boat that went on to win, suggesting these aren’t the right conditions here in Great Sound in which to be playing catch-up.
The ROCKWOOL Racing SailGP Team chased them home to pick up a priceless nine points, while Los Gallos were third.
The Aussies had been the 4.0 favorites to win Race 2.
‘The start line was absolute chaos’ was how our live blog described the first few seconds of Race 3, a start that didn’t include the DS Automobiles SailGP Team France after an injury to wing-trimmer Glenn Ashby, who was already on stand-in duties himself.
It was only ever going to be one of the BONDS Flying Roos or Los Gallos winning after they shared the lead early on, and with no one else to worry about other than each other, it was a two-horse race, eventually won by the Spanish in a racing masterclass courtesy of Diego Botin and his crew. So another nine points for the Australians, with Germany by Deutsche Bank in third.
The big news between the end of Race 3 and the start of Race 4 was that a certain Tom from the BONDS Flying Roos was going to stand in for the stand-in.
But it was a Tom of the Needham variety, rather than the Slinsgby one, who did so, the BONDS Flying Roos’ reserved athlete joining the French team in place of Glenn Ashby as their wing trimmer.
Australian Win In Race 4 Sees Them Tied At the Top With Los Gallos After Saturday’s Action
Race 4 went the way of the Aussies yet again.
‘They’ve picked up exactly where they left off in Rio’ said our resident live blogger at the time, and he couldn’t have put it any better after Slingsby’s Sunday super sweep of four race wins from four at Guanabara Bay a few weeks ago.
The win meant the Aussies finished the day on 32 points, but it wasn’t enough to finish the day top of the event standings. At least not by themselves.
Instead, they finished the day tied with Los Gallos.
Our second event preview ahead of the Bermuda event used the word ‘consistency’ to best describe Los Gallos’ efforts so far this season, and they were nothing if not that all day.
They finished fourth, third, first, and fourth across Saturday’s races – the definition of consistency – and now have every chance of making Sunday’s final.
They will have taken note of the fact that their rivals for the Championship, the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team, didn’t have the best of days by their own high standards, and currently sitting in sixth, will need high finishes in Races 5 and 6 if they’re to make the final themselves.
Take Your Pick From the BONDS Flying Ross and Los Gallos
Sunday’s betting markets see the Australians as the 3.03 favorites to win the event here in Bermuda, with the Spanish hot on their heels at 3.23.
Then it’s the Americans at 5.71. In an interesting quirk, the winner of Race 1 in Bermuda has always gone on to contest Sunday’s final in four events staged here, and odds of 2.06 for them to make the final suggest it’s pretty much a coin toss as to whether that will happen for a fifth time in a row.
The Germans, currently fourth, are 8.7 to make the final, while the bookies still aren’t quite ruling out the Brits. They’re 3.64 to be in Sunday’s showdown and 9.52 to win it.
It’s the usual suspects who are fancied to take Race 5. It’s 3.7 that Slingsby and co win it, 4.35 that Dylan Fletcher and his team are first past the post, and then it’s 6.45 on Los Gallos, and 9.52 that the Danes take the first 10 points of the day on offer themselves.
But if the Americans can carry on being so quick off the mark, they are the ones who could be the value bet at 10.53. They’ve already defied the odds once in this event.
Starting points for our US readers
Starting points for our UK readers
Starting points for our Global readers