by Jeff Apel

Grade 1 winner Tough Tiz’s Sis regained command near midstretch and earned a three-quarter-length win in the $108,500 Hawthorne Handicap (G3) on Sunday at Hollywood Park.

The 2-to-1 favorite in the field of seven fillies and mares, Tough Tiz’s Sis opened a head lead through a quarter in :24.69. Dropping back to second, Watson and Weitman Performances’s Tough Tiz’s Sis seized command after chasing Grade 2 winner Dawn After Dawn through early stretch.

Jockey Victor Espinoza skillfully rode Dawn After Dawn after the Successful Appeal filly’s saddle slipped forward leaving the first turn of the 1 1/16-mile race. Dawn After Dawn led Tough Tiz’s Sis and jockey Aaron Gryder by a 1 1/2 lengths through a half-mile in :47.19 and by one length through six furlongs in 1:10.90.

Leading a head in early stretch, Dawn After Dawn was quickly overtaken by Tough Tiz’s Sis, who won in 1:41.84 on the synthetic Cushion Track surface.

Stakes winner Santa Teresita rallied from fifth to secure second, 1 1/4 lengths in front of Dawn After Dawn.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Tough Tiz’s Sis entered off a win on the main track in the Harry W. Henson Handicap on March 16 at Sunland Park. The Tiznow filly won four of her ten starts last season, including a victory in the Lady’s Secret Stakes (G1) at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park.

Earning her seventh win in 17 starts, Tough Tiz’s Sis increased her earnings to $627,792. A half sister to multiple Grade 3-placed stakes winner Golly Greeley, Tough Tiz’s Sis was bred in Kentucky by Gary Tussey and is out of stakes-placed winner Leaseholder, by Taylor’s Falls.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor