Free as a Bird flourishing in turf sprints

The improving Free as a Bird won her second straight stakes race Sunday, running down the speedy longshot Believe in Charlie to win the $100,000 Intercontinental Stakes by a neck at Belmont Park.

Believe in Charlie, a 42-1 shot, held second by a half-length over Alaura Michele.

The win came four weeks after Free as a Bird won the License Fee Stakes here by one length. Free as a Bird, a 5-year-old daughter of Hard Spun owned by Elizabeth Valando and trained by Ian Wilkes, is now 5 for 18, including 3 for 5 at Belmont.

“She’s getting better and better, this filly,” Wilkes said afterward. “I’m very, very pleased with her. I thought she ran professional, Joel [Rosario] did a great job. Everything’s going perfect.”

Free as a Bird has found her niche as a stalking/closing sprinter after running long with mixed results. The Intercontinental was run at seven furlongs; the License Fee was six furlongs.

“She gets covered up, she’s a nice filly,” Wilkes said. “Last year, she was a little too rank on the lead, but that’s because I was running her long.”

Sunday, Free as a Bird raced in fourth position down the backside while Believe in Charlie set fractions of 22.66 seconds for the quarter and 45.87 for the half-mile while being pursued by Assateague and Zia Zia Zia.

In the stretch, Believe in Charlie spurted away while Free as a Bird and Assateague were giving chase. It was Free as a Bird who kicked strong in the final furlong and overtook Believe in Charlie late to get the victory. Free as a Bird covered the seven furlongs over a firm Widener turf in 1:20.52 and returned $9.30 to win.