Team New Zealand on the right tack

July 5, 2013

Team New Zealand on the right tack

It’s all plain sailing for Team New Zealand in yachting’s Louis Vuitton Cup, says the TAB.

Despite the current courtroom wrangling, Team NZ has been installed as the red-hot $1.67 favourite to win the regatta, starting Monday morning.

Should Team NZ beat Sweden’s Artemis Racing and Italy’s Luna Rossa (both $3.75) in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the Kiwi syndicate will earn the right to challenge Oracle Team USA for the America’s Cup in September.

TAB bookmaker Kieran McAnulty says the Louis Vuitton Cup is Team NZ’s to lose.

“Team NZ enters the regatta in good form with a top showing in the America’s Cup World Series lead-up races. They may not have the budgets of the big boys but, as they showed by winning the America’s Cup in 1995 and 2000, they’re used to punching above their weight.”

Team NZ has won the Louis Vuitton Cup twice before – first in 1995, when Black Magic went on to bring the America’s Cup home, and again in 2007 when it swept Luna Rossa 5-0.

Although it’s the lawyers – rather than the sailors – that are currently getting the biggest workout, McAnulty believes the country will get behind Team NZ when the action finally hits the water on Monday morning.

“It’s strange, really. Yachting, and in particular the America’s Cup, is quite possibly the most elitist sport around. Technology has a lot to do with it and it seems that the syndicates are as much in the courtroom as they are on the water. But, for some reason Kiwis from every background get behind their team. Maybe it’s the whole David-versus-Goliath thing, but whatever the reason, Kiwis love it.”

If, as expected, Team NZ wins through to challenge Oracle for the America’s Cup, the Kiwi outfit will likely be the odds-on favourite to return home with yachting’s ultimate prize.

“If Team NZ wins the Louis Vuitton Cup we reckon they’ll start as favourites against Oracle, although that will depend on how the current dispute over contentious rule changes goes,” says McAnulty.

“As soon we know what the rules will be, we’ll open up the book.”

TO WIN THE LOUIS VUITTON CUP…

Team New Zealand: $1.67
Artemis Racing (Sweden): $3.75
Luna Rossa (Italy): $3.75

Odds for each individual match will be offered.

ENDS

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