Taylor Canfield and US One earned the right to choose their quarter-final opponent after finishing as the overall top qualifier during day two of the Argo Group Gold Cup in Hamilton Harbour yesterday.

The 2012 Gold Cup winners picked up where they had left off the day before, chalking up three additional points to finish atop Group Two with an unblemished 7-0 record that speaks volumes about the team’s present form.

“We are thrilled with the result so far but we’ve definitely had some tight racing and the field is only getting better from here,” Canfield, the 2013 world match racing champion, said. “The more time everyone spends in the boat throughout the week the harder it’s going to get.

“The goal is to make it through to the quarter-finals and we have achieved that first goal and now we have to see how it all plays out on Saturday.”

It now remains to be seen which opponent among the remaining quarter-finalists Canfield will choose to tango with.

One skipper he may want to avoid is Ian Williams, the five-times world match racing champion and 2006 Gold Cup winner.

A loss to defending World Match Racing Tour champion and present leader Williams in the quarter-finals would see Canfield lose precious ground in his bid for a second world match racing title in three-years.

“It will be interesting to see what Taylor chooses to do,” Williams said.

“He’s often threatened to pick us but he never has and so we’ll see if he comes up with it this time.”

Also advancing straight through to the quarter-finals from group two were Bjorn Hansen and Nautiska Racing and Adam Minoprio and Team Blackwatch.

Chris Steele (36 Below Racing), Keith Swinton (BlackSwan Racing), Francesco Bruni (Artemis Racing) and Reuben Corbett (Corbett Racing) advanced to the repechage, while Nicolai Sehested (Trefor Match Racing) was eliminated.

Phil Robertson and Waka Racing topped group one on a tiebreaker after finishing the qualifying stage tied with Eric Monnin, of Switzerland, whom he beat in the fourth flight the previous day.

Williams, fresh from competing on the M32 Scandinavian Series in Europe, claimed the third and final quarter-final spot in group one.

Advancing from group one to the repechage were Johnie Berntsson and Stena Sailing, the defending Gold Cup champions, Dean Barker and SoftBank Team Japan, Chris Poole and Riptide Racing, and local hopeful Blythe Walker and Team RenRe. Eliminated was Joachim Aschenbrenner and Aschenbrenner Racing Team.

After the group qualifying had concluded the race committee decided to start the repechage earlier than originally planned.

After three of seven flights in the repechage, Steele and Swinton are both on two points, Berntsson, Barker, Bruni and Corbett have one, while Walker and Poole have yet to get off the mark.

The remaining flights of the repechage will be held today to determine the final two teams that will join the other six quarter-finalists.

The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be held tomorrow, while the Petite final and final will take place on Sunday.

The eventual winning team will pocket $35,000, second $16,000 and third $12,000.