Reigning King Edward VII Gold Cup champion and world number one match race skipper Mathieu Richard and Team French Spirit remained on course to advance to the quarter-finals of the $125,000 Troia Portugal Match Cup in Portugal yesterday.

The Frenchman, who will defend his Gold Cup crown in Hamilton Harbour next month, currently leads Australian Torvar Mirsky by a single point and fellow countryman Sebastien Col by two points after 13 flights of the 12-team event.

Richard was unflappable yesterday competing in the SM-40 class , brushing aside World Match Race Tour debutant Nick Cherry of England, Italy's Paolo Cian and Sweden's Magnus Holmberg to improve his overall record to seven and one to enhance his chances of automatically qualifying for the quarter-finals, reserved for the top six teams upon the completion of the round-robin stage of the five-day event.

Richard's sole loss to date arrived on Wednesday when he suffered defeat at the hands of compatriot Damien Lehl who is one of three Frenchmen currently in the top four at the Portugal regatta.

Last year saw Richard defeat Sweden's Bjorn Hansen 2-0 on the way to savouring a maiden Gold Cup title in Bermuda.

Current World Match Race Tour leader and 2006 Gold Cup winner Ian Williams (three and four) and Team Pindar, who have not enjoyed the best of times in Portugal this week, presently occupy sixth position.

The Trioa Portugal Match Cup is the seventh stage of the World Match Race Tour which is sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and is the leading professional sailing series featuring nine world championship events across the globe.

Williams, who currently leads the World Match Race Tour points standings by 20 points ahead of Richard, became the first Englishmen to win the coveted title last year.

Earlier this week the English lawyer was included with countrymen and three-time Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainsley on a short list for the prestigious ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award.

The Gold Cup is the oldest match-racing competition in the world for one-design yachts. The trophy presented to the winning team was originaly handed out at the Tri-Centenary Regatta at Jamestown, Virginia in 1907 by King Edward VII in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the first permanent settlement in America.

This year's Gold Cup sailing spectacle, starting on October 7, will again feature the Renaissance Reinsurance Junior Gold Cup in addition to the inaugural Bermuda Festival of Sail.