was lesser-known John Cutler who stole the show yesterday during the second day of racing at the Omega Gold Cup.

Cutler, recognised above all for his planning genius as a tactician for fellow New Zealander Dickson during their glory years of the late 1980s, continued where he left off on Sunday, rolling into the championship round with an unbeaten 7-0 record during qualifying in group two.

A model of consistency and spellbinding at the starts, Cutler proved beyond any doubt that he belonged, showing off remarkable match racing skills that had opponents constantly shaking their heads.

Such was his form that each race was, for all intents and purposes, over by the time the windward mark was reached, with Cutler's margins of victory reading 41 seconds, 1:20 and 20 seconds.

The Kiwi counted among his victims Bermuda's Adam Barboza, Bill Buckles of the United States and Canadian Nigel Cochrane as Cutler set up a match-up tomorrow against 1991 Omega Gold Cup winner Eddie Warden-Owen of England, seeded seventh for this year's event.

Others making it out of the group (the top four in each of the two groups make it to the championship round) were Barboza, who ended with a 4-3 won-loss record, Neville Whittey of Australia (6-1) and Dickson (5-2).

Included among those not qualifying was local Blythe Walker who stumbled to a 3-4 mark after entering the day in a reasonable 2-2 position.

Barboza expressed delight at his accomplishments in his first Omega event, but realised much improvement would be required if he is to progress any further.

"(Sunday) I thought we sailed well, we had a close race with Dickson but due to unfortunate circumstances we lost that one,'' said Barboza, who has number two seed Rod Davis of Australia as his next opponent.

After suffering an opening loss to Cutler, Barboza was placed in a must-win situation -- needing to win both of his final two races to be guaranteed a spot in the next round.

And the 26-year-old responded exquisitely, first dusting off the challenge of Cochrane, before squeezing out Bill Buckles in a tension-filled final race where he overcame a penalty to win.

"I thought of the three races that the one I would lose would be the first one, because Cutler was undefeated (Sunday),'' said Barboza. "We gave him a good race and we were ahead of him at one point, which was encouraging. And then the next two races we knew our backs were against the wall and we had to do it then.'' In group one -- racing in the afternoon -- Bromby was his usual belligerent self and only a mental lapse during the final race prevented him from going unbeaten on the day.

The local ace fumbled away a victory racing against England's Stuart Childerley when he miscalculated the number of legs and prepared to round the leeward mark when he should have headed straight for the finish.

Childerley graciously accepted the gift to cross the line ahead to assure himself a place in the next round.

"I miscounted the legs,'' said Bromby. "We'll definitely have to improve on our counting.

"Otherwise it's all coming (together), we just have to keep improving as we go along and everything should fall into place.'' Meanwhile, Childerley was enjoying his own moment in the spotlight, placing third in the group in his first Omega Gold Cup appearance.

"I feel very happy actually (to have qualified),'' said the Englishman.

"It all starts again now. It's the same stuff...we just have to be better.'' Joining Childerley and Bromby will be two other Brits, Andy Beadsworth and David Bedford, as the foursome face off in best-of-five race series against Roy Heiner, Marcus Wieser, Chris Law and Peter Gilmour respectively.

Today has the seeded skippers involved in a practice race, otherwise known as the Bermuda Commercial Bank Bowl with a purse of $1,000 going to the winner.