06/19/2026
by James Pacheco
It’s the usual favorites in the betting to take Race 1 on Saturday, but how important is winning the opening race in terms of going on to win the whole event? How long has it been since the Bonds Flying Roos SailGP Team secured an opening race win? And why are the Black Foils SailGP 2.000 to win the Championship?
Answers to all those questions are coming up.
Who Has Been the Quickest Out Of the Blocks in Race 1?
If you’re looking to book your place in the Final of a Rolex SailGP championship event, then winning Fleet Race 1 is the best way to go about things. Ten points on the board at the first time of asking, strong team momentum and the confidence you have that you can get your F50 round the course better than the rest of the fleet are all priceless assets in their own way.
But who has won Race 1 so far this season, and to what extent do the odds reflect who the Race 1 specialists are?
The Bonds Flying Roos SailGP Team won the opening race of the first three events of the season, while the Artemis SailGP Team claimed the spoils at the Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix, before the United States SailGP Team did so at the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix.
Then last time out at the Mudabala New York Sail Grand Prix, it was the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team who took the opening race.
Bonds Flying Roos Race 1 Favourites, But It’s Been A While
So, with a 50% strike rate when it comes to winning Race 1, in addition to winning the last three events and leading the Championship standings, it’s no surprise to find the Bonds Flying Roos installed as the 4.17 favorites. But remember that despite their three-from-three record at winning the event over the last couple of months, they didn’t win Race 1 in any of them.
Emirates GBR are next at a big-looking 5.88, with the Americans the fifth-favorites at 10.53 and Race 1 winners in Rio, Artemis, on offer at 13.33.
Third-favorites are the returning Black Foils at 6.06, with the Los Gallos SailGP Team, yet to secure a Race 1 win this season, at 9.52. They did, however, win Race 1 the last time the Canada Sail Grand Prix was held here back in 2024, so they can get some comfort from that.
Win Race 1, Win the Event?
A reminder that the Event Winner betting market is generally suspended during Saturday’s racing and reopened at the end of the day, ahead of Sunday’s action.
But when that happens, is it worth just blindly backing the winner of Race 1 to win the event as a whole?
Based on this season’s results, the answer is: not necessarily. As we know, the Aussies won Race 1 in all of the season’s first three events, yet of those three, they only went on to win the event at the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix.
And when the Aussies went on that winning streak of three in a row, they didn’t win the opening race in any of them.
Conclusion: winning Race 1 certainly helps matters, but it’s no guarantee of success when it comes to going all the way. On the other hand, not winning it certainly doesn’t seriously affect your chances, as there are plenty more races available in which to pick up 10 points and close in on a place in the Final.
All Eyes on Returning Black Foils
It’s been a long old wait for Peter Burling and his Black Foils team to get back out on the water.
Absent since crashing in Auckland, it’s now three whole events that they’ve missed, or to put it another way, almost four months of watching the action from the shore rather than being out there racing.
But though that absence and the points lost in the process have almost ruled them out entirely from winning the Championship – odds of 2000.0 suggest as much – the bookies are expecting a strong showing from them on their return.
In addition to being 6.06 to win Races 1 and 2, they’re the 4.88 third-favorites to win the event, odds-on at 1.74 to make the final and only marginal outsiders at 2.18 to get the better of the Australians on the head-to-head market, with the latter 1.61 favorites.
In head-to-head betting, the market is only concerned with who finishes higher up in the event standings of the two named teams.
So in this case, you’re either betting on the Aussies to pick up the most event points in Halifax, or the Kiwis. It doesn’t matter how they finished compared to the other teams; only who performs best between the two teams.
After three events where no one has been able to get the better of the Aussies, it would certainly be some achievement if Burling managed it on the Black Foils’ much-awaited return.
Given the dominance of Tom Slingsby and his team over the past couple of months, the fleet as a whole would welcome anyone beating the Aussies right now.