Dogtag's win in the $100,000 Hilltop S. was the first of two stakes wins for Eddie Woods training grads on Friday afternoon at Pimlico, coming about 90 minutes before Point of Honor took the featured Black Eyed Susan (G2).

Three-year-old Dogtag came from well off the pace to win the Hilltop, at one mile on the turf. Eighth through the first half-mile, the gray filly swung wide for the stretch drive, rallying strongly in the middle of the track to win by 1 3/4-lengths over post-time favorite Nova Sol (GER).

“I’m really happy to have Dogtag back in the winners’ circle,” said co-owner Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwoods, who also bred the filly. “She had some time off and we skipped the Breeders’ Cup. It wasn’t a matter of talent or class; I don’t think she liked the yielding ground [in the Miss Grillo]. I was watching the race from a weird spot, so I wasn’t sure when she had it won. I wasjust rooting for the finish line. We haven’t discussed anything as to her next start.” 

Roth was referring to her fourth-place finish in last September's Miss Grillo. Prior to that, she broke her maiden in the $100,000 P. G. Johnson S. on the Saratoga lawn. The daughter of War Front out of the Unbridled's Song mare Diamond Necklace is now 2-0-1 in four starts and has earned $137,200.