England seeking first Euro Cup

P.E.I. coaches, the Fiddler have Italy losing final

I have never been a big soccer fan, but I do appreciate the great skill needed to be successful at the highest levels of the sport, especially the European Championship, which some believe is better than the World Cup.

What I like about the European Cup is that players must be born in the country for whom they play, sorry no mercenaries allowed. All the European teams are balanced, unlike the World Cup where very strong teams sometimes meet much less powerful clubs. The July 11 championship game featuring Italy and England will be played at London’s massive Wembley Stadium with a capacity of 90,000, so it’s a home game for England, which has never won the Euro Cup.

Italy and Italians are passionate about their team and their soccer, so there’s enormous interest in the championship game. Italy last won the Euro Cup in 1968 while England, with all its history of soccer, has never won this title. What surprises me is that Denmark, who lost to England in extra time July

7, is a small country with a meagre population of less than 6 million has already won a Euro Cup. The same holds true for hockey where Finland, another tiny Scandinavian country with a population of less than 6 million, is able to win a world hockey title and a world junior crown in the same year. It must be the coaching.

I’ve recruited John Diamond, the godfather of P.E.I. soccer and the man who masterminded the Churchill Arms senior men’s team to the 2010 national crown, along with assistant coaches Bruce Norton, Lewis Page and Dave Snowie for their predictions on Sunday’s big game.

Diamond, Snowie and Page are confident England wins this game because of better scoring and a better overall team, but not so fast, says Norton. Bruce makes a key point, “championships are won by teams with the best defence and Italy has the best D.”

As for the Prophet, “I’ll stay with Diamond on this one.”

BASEBALL

The Toronto Blue Jays are in dire need of pitching help and towards that goal they parted company with popular first baseman Rowdy Tellez. He slugged 21 home runs and had 54 RBI during the 2019 season, but with the emergence of a real superstar in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base, Rowdy became expendable.

With enough at-bats, Rowdy will hit 20-25 home runs with the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, and I regard him as a dangerous hitter with power. The Jays landed Trevor Richards, who is 3-0 with a 3.6 ERA in 21 relief appearances, and minor leaguer Bowden Francis, who has just been promoted to AAA.

This is a good trade for both contending clubs. The Jays have the best line-up in baseball, but they need another quality starting pitcher to stay competitive in the wild-card hunt with Oakland, Cleveland, Seattle, Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees.

CONDOLENCES

The local harness racing game lost another personable individual with the sudden passing earlier this week of longtime horseman Richard Campbell, who shared ownership in 2020 The Guardian Gold Cup and Saucer winner Time to Dance with his son Brent and Matt Macdonald.

Richard has always been around the race game having got started in Fredericton, N.B., in the 1970s where he spent summers helping top horseman Ned Lindon, who is his mom’s brother. Until this past summer, when health issues forced him to the sidelines, Richard often jogged horses for the Marc Campbell barn. To his wife Jacinta, son Brent, daughter-in-law Ambyr, grand-daughters and all connected to this gentleman, our condolences.

HARNESS RACING

The $25,000 Governor’s Plate, the signature event for Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway, goes July 10 and the favourite Time to Dance has drawn the coveted rail position for trainer-driver Marc Campbell.

This is a tough field, including Bugsy Maguire, last year’s winner, plus six horses that could win with racing luck.

Walter Cheverie, one of the top drivers in the Maritimes for the past 20 years, is back in the bike after missing most of last year with a broken shoulder. He won a stake race earlier this week in Summerside and handles Rose Run Quest in the Governor’s Plate.

Also tonight, sensational Woodmere Stealdeal makes his 2021 debut and has Post 6 in a tough field of three-yearolds with horses like Rotten Ronnie, Dusty Lane Goliath, Mr Rielly inside and a sharp Elliott Moose outside.

Up country, James MacDonald has been on fire for the past month and now is the leading money winning driver in Canada by a big margin and third in wins. One of his winners was with the Harry Poulton-trained three-yearold trot filly, Tipsy in Dixie, who won a $22,000 stake under wraps at Mohawk this week.

Recently in Ontario, Brett MacDonald, Toby’s boy, gave Saulsbrook Olympia a perfect drive as the Big Jim daughter won the $58,300 Kin pace at Clinton. At Dresden, Dale Spence captured the $15,900 Mark Austin pace with Bigmac with cheese in a sizzling 1:56:2 for owner and partner MacKenzie MacInnis. The biggest race of the year thus far in North America is the Meadowlands Pace eliminations at The Meadowlands July 10. Mark MacDonald drives Dr. Ian Moore-trained Lawless Shadow for Serge Savard, Ron MacLellan and Moore in a tough division against the likes of Abuckabett Hanover, unbeaten American Courage, Perfect Sting, Southwind Gentry and two others.