Racing: Timarida triumphs in Chicago

John Oxx, who demonstrated his ability to win at the highest level in the United States when saddling Ridgewood Pearl for success in the Breeders' Cup Mile last autumn, struck again on Saturday when Timarida won one of the world's richest races for fillies and mares, the pounds 300,000 Beverly D Stakes at Arlington, Chicago.

The Irish challenger, ridden by Johnny Murtagh, overcame a hesitant start in the nine and a half furlong event to beat Perfect Arc by two and a half lengths, with the Aga Khan's other challenger, the French filly Khalisa, a seven lengths fourth under Gerald Mosse.

An unhappy sequel to the race was that it claimed the life of Alec Head's filly, Matiara, who died from internal bleeding.

The 1995 winner of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas) broke down in the backstretch under Corey Nakatani and, although she was subsequently loaded on to the horse ambulance, later succumbed to a major internal haemorrhage.The racecourse vet, Robert Gowen, speculated that the daughter of Bering may have suffered a fractured pelvis.

Matiara, trained earlier in her career by Criquette Head, was this year under the care of Richard Mandella for whom she won the Grade Two Buena Vista Handicap in March.