07/26/2026
by James Pacheco
There were upsets everywhere you looked on Saturday in Portsmouth, and the odds suggest we’re going to have a fifth different winner of the season come Sunday evening. But what exactly happened on Saturday, which outsiders are likely to make the Final and which favorites are likely to miss out on it?
First Blood to NorthStar in Group A
We’ll have to wait and see if the new group racing format will continue to throw up unexpected results as the season progresses, but it certainly did in the first race of the day, in both Groups A and B.
Canada’s NorthStar SailGP Team were second out of the blocks in Group A’s Race 1 behind the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team. But second place quickly became first by overtaking the Brazilians just after mark one, building up a lead over the rest of the field and never looking back to take the opening race of the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth.
It was their first race win since Race 3 at the Mudabala New York Sail Grand Prix, and before that we’d have to go back to Race 7 at the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix, the Rolex SailGP Championship’s opening event of the season, back in mid-January.
And it certainly provided a good payout to those who backed them at odds of 5.71 to win it.
Curiously, of the top three in the betting – the Bonds Flying Roos SailGP Team, Los Gallos SailGP Team and the Black Foils SailGP Team – only the Spanish made the top three, finishing second as the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team secured third.
And just like London buses, one NorthStar win almost brought two. Having waited almost six months for their second race win of the campaign, it seemed they didn’t have to wait long for their third. But they fell off the foils when almost colliding with Los Gallos, which cost them dearly as a potential second win quickly turned into a disappointing fifth, with Los Gallos winning it.
“It was very close; we were pushing the boat so hard, and we were really on the edge,” said Los Gallos driver Diego Botin.
Indeed.
Canadians and Kiwis odds-on to make Sunday’s Final
Later in the day, the Black Foils won Race 3 in Group A with NorthStar once again putting in another excellent performance to finish second.
It means that the Canadians are in with a good chance of making Sunday’s Final as they’re currently on 10 points, just one behind the Black Foils, one point ahead of Los Gallos and three better off than the Bonds Flying Roos.
So NorthStar are odds-on to make the final at 1.82 with the Kiwis 1.52 and the Aussies having plenty of work to do in tomorrow’s two races if they’re to make yet another final. They’re 3.13 to do so, with Los Gallos an even money chance.
Swedes and Americans Dominating Group B
“We’re just happy being out here,” said the United States SailGP Team’s Taylor Canfield after Group B’s Race 1.
“We’ve got to go out and push hard. We’re really happy with how we sailed – we had a little hiccup but managed to pull it back.”
And so they should be (happy).
Despite a great fightback from the Artemis SailGP Team after the Americans took an early lead, they just about managed to hang on to take Group B’s opening race at odds of 5.26, having gone off as the joint third-favorites.
But Artemis made amends for that near-miss by winning Group B’s Race Two, with the Emirates Great Britain only managing sixth to put themselves under serious pressure of missing out on Sunday’s final in their home event.
But to their credit, the Brits fought back to win Race 3 in Group B and put themselves back into contention for winning an event on home waters.
They’ll need a good start in Race 4 on Sunday because they’re trailing the Explora Swiss team by two points, the U.S SailGP Team by four and Artemis by six.
The bookies make it a 4.55 chance that Dylan Fletcher will be in Sunday’s second-ever four-boat finale in SailGP, with the Swedes expected to be there at odds of 1.41 and the Americans at 1.61, the team most likely to join them in it.
Unfamiliar Look to Saturday Night’s Winner Market
The change in format has certainly brought about a very different look to the norm as regards the event winner market, going into Sunday’s action.
Artemis are the 3.7 favorites for what would be their first-ever event win in SailGP, the Black Foils are 4.0, with Northstar and the U.S SailGP Team both at 4.55.
Of course, the fact that teams normally considered outsiders are now among the favorites to win it means other teams who are normally the favorites are at far higher prices than you’d expect after the first day’s action.
That includes the clear Championship leaders, the Bonds Flying Roos, being available at 20.0 to win here in Portsmouth, while the two teams hot on their heels in the Championship standings are at big prices too; Los Gallos can be backed at 16.67 and Emirates GBR also at 20.0.
SailGP is pretty unpredictable by nature; that’s why we love it, and though it’s not hard to predict that one of the pre-event outsiders is likely to go on and win it, we’re no closer to knowing which one.