Grand Prairie, Texas (Monday, May 25, 2009) - Edmund A. Gann’s It’s a Bird, trained by Martin Wolfson, earned a hard-fought victory in 13th running of the Grade 3, $400,000 Lone Star Park Handicap, for 3-year-olds and upward, over a fast main track on Monday.

Ridden by Julian Leparoux, who won two other stakes races on the Lone Star Million Day undercard, including the Grade 3 Dallas Turf Cup, It’s a Bird broke alertly and settled in third position behind opening fractions of 23.25 and 47.17. The bay son of Birdonthewire was then sent three-wide around the second turn to get even with the leaders. After surging to the front at the top of the stretch, he lost the lead to eventual runner-up Jonesboro in mid-stretch before coming again nearing the finish line to record a head decision. The final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:41.83. Song of Navarone produced a late run to finish a ½-length behind Jonesboro in third.

“He broke very good,” said winning jockey Julian Leparoux. “The outside horse out broke us, but after that we got a nice position on the outside, and that was perfect. We passed him (Jonesboro) before the quarter-pole, and he came back on us and passed us, but we fought back and came back on him. So that was great.”

“Julian has a lot to do with it (his success),” added winning trainer Martin Wolfson. “We talked about it down at Gulfstream Park. He just gets along great with the horse. I thought he’d be closer up early on, but I don’t worry when Julian is on him. The races he’s won with Julian have been very easy. Today really tested him and he impressed me with what he did.”

With the win, It’s a Bird improved his career mark to 11 wins from 30 starts and the $240,000 winner’s share of the purse increased his career earnings to $1,412,885.

It’s a Bird paid $3.00, $2.60, $2.10, runner-up Jonesboro returned $5.20, $3.00, and Song of Navarone paid $3.40 for show. King Dan, Encaustic, Magnum, Z Fortune, Stungbythestorm, and Upstream completed the order of finish.