Stephan’s Odyssey Wins Dwyer Stakes by Closing With a Rush at Belmont

Stephan’s Odyssey, runner-up in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, overcame pace-setting Cutlass Reality in the closing strides for a neck victory in the $147,500 Dwyer Stakes for 3-year-olds Sunday at New York’s Belmont Park.

The victory was worth $88,500 and boosted Stephan’s Odyssey’s career bankroll to $1,046,328.

It also was the second stakes victory in two days for trainer Woody Stephens. On Saturday, the Hall of Fame trainer sent Belmont Stakes winner Creme Fraiche out to win the $169,000 American Derby on the grass at Arlington Park.

Stephan’s Odyssey won in 1:49 1/5 on a fast track, carrying 123 pounds, nine more than Cutlass Realty and three less than Important Business.

The winner, owned by Henryk deKwiatkowski, paid $3.40, $2.60 and $2.20. Theodore V. Kruckel’s Cutlass Reality, ridden by Jorge Velasquez, returned $3.60 and $3.20. Important Business, owned by Custom T Stable and ridden by Angel Cordero, paid $3.20 to show.

Bill Walton, the Clippers’ center, wants to be a Boston Celtic so that he can play at the “highest levels of the game,” he said at a weekend basketball clinic at Warm Springs, Ore.

“I’m looking to move on from the Clippers,” said Walton, while conducting the clinic at the Warm Springs Community Center as part of the Indian Youth of America Camp.

“I’ve had some very good talks with the Celtics,” he said. “They’re a great basketball team, a great organization with great tradition.

“I would very much like to be a part of that. I want to be in the playoffs, playing at the highest levels of the game. And that’s where the Celtics have played throughout their history.”

Walton also did not discount the possibility of joining the Lakers.

“They’re also in the category of the Celtics,” he said. “I’m looking forward to moving on from the Clippers, and that’s really all I can say.”

Interior Minister Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb of Belgium said he will not resign before parliament discusses a report later this week on the May 29 soccer riot at Brussels in which 38 fans were killed prior to the European Cup final.

To date, Nothomb has maintained that adequate security precautions were taken before the ill-fated match between defending European champion Liverpool of England and Italian champion Juventus of Turin, but that police were surprised by the scale and the timing of the pregame rioting.

Nothomb’s remarks came one day after a parliamentary commission issued a report on the riots blaming security personnel and especially Nothomb, who is in charge of police, for serious organizational errors that aggravated the tragedy.

Agents for a majority of the first-round NFL draft picks plan to band together to win better contracts for their clients.

Only three of the 28 first-round picks have been signed, and negotiations for the other 25 have been slow. Because the financially troubled United States Football League is no longer chasing most first-round picks, agents believe NFL owners are trying to roll back salaries for rookies to 1983 levels.

Nineteen agents will meet at Chicago today to discuss strategy in the face of this threat.

The agents believe the owners are waiting until the start of training camps in late July to put more pressure on the unsigned rookies.

For 1984 first-round picks, bonus and contract packages averaged nearly $2 million, a 25% increase from 1983. Signing bonuses averaged $1 million, up 43% from 1983.

Names in the News

Retired University of Washington head basketball coach Marv Harshman, 67, is scheduled to undergo gall stone surgery at Northwest Hospital in Seattle today.

Manager Bobby Cox of the Toronto Blue Jays and Manager Dick Howser of the Kansas City Royals have been selected as coaches for the American League team in the 56th All-Star game at Minneapolis July 16 by Manager Sparky Anderson of the Detroit Tigers. Cox will be making his first All-Star appearance of any kind. Howser was a coach for the AL squad in 1982 at Montreal.