American Magic to miss next Prada Cup races leaving Ainslie just one win from final

Sportsbeat
·3 min read
Sir Ben Ainslie's Team Ineos UK are unbeaten after their first four races of the America's Cup Challenger Series, the Prada Cup, in Auckland
Sir Ben Ainslie's Team Ineos UK are unbeaten after their first four races of the America's Cup Challenger Series, the Prada Cup, in Auckland

By James Toney

Sir Ben Ainslie needs just one more win to clear the first hurdle of his America's Cup campaign.

Three 'challenger' boats, from the USA, Italy and Great Britain, are contesting a series of round robin races in Auckland as they seek to become the team that takes on defending champions Team New Zealand in the 36th America's Cup match in March.

After their dramatic capsize on Sunday, American Magic will not contest the remaining races of the first phase of the regatta this weekend.

That means Ainslie's Team Ineos UK, unbeaten in four, needs to win one of two contests against Luna Ross Prada Pirelli to progress straight to the best-of-13 Prada Cup final.

American Magic will now have 11 days to get 'Patriot' back on the water to grab a second chance for success in the repechage semi, the winner of which fills the other final slot in this three-team challenger series.

"We live to fight another day. The crews all good, just a little bit bruised," said skipper and team executive director Terry Hutchinson.

"There's a high-level of resolve that boat will be rebuilt in the next ten days. She might not come out the shed as pretty but we're going to get right back into racing.

"We're committed to it. When you think about all the things we've had to endure it would be a massive mistake not to get the boat back on the race course.

"It'll be a big effort to get the boat sailing for the semi, I think if I'd have said go racing this weekend then I'd have been managing a mutiny.

"Things that don't kill you are only going to make you stronger and I'm exceptionally confident in the team.

"Until you're dead, you're not. It's the America's Cup, we have to be prepared to fight for it and we will."

Before the dramatic capsize, Ainslie's boat 'Britannia' was the talk of the quayside in Auckland, after starting their bid for the 'Auld Mug' with four straight wins.

The British challenger was way off the pace during the warm-up events, leading the four-time Olympic champion to make radical changes to his £110 million campaign.

Coming into the start of racing American Magic were considered the favourite and Ainslie's crew the rank outsiders - the weekend's racing has certainly seen that situation switch.

"The whole team has been incredible over these last three days and we need to keep making gains and keep improving for the next round and beyond," he said.

Ainslie is seeking to end a 170-year wait for a British win in sport's oldest international trophy, while a crew from the UK hasn't won through the challenger regatta since 1964.