Baffert Entry in Hawthorne

One of the three horses trainer Bob Baffert ran in last year’s Kentucky Derby will make her 4-year-old debut Sunday in the $150,000 Hawthorne Handicap at Hollywood Park.

A troubled fifth in the 1999 Derby, Excellent Meeting will make her first start since finishing ninth in the Del Mar Oaks last Aug. 22 for owner John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm.

Sidelined after surgery to remove a bone chip in one of her ankles, the General Meeting filly has some solid works for her return and is coming back at a distance--1 1/16 miles--at which she has excelled. She has four wins and a second in five tries at the trip, including a win by a neck in the Princess Stakes at Hollywood Park last summer.

Corey Nakatani will ride Excellent Meeting, who has won eight of 16 lifetime starts and will be the starting highweight with 122 pounds.

In the first prep for the $300,000 Vanity Handicap on June 25, Excellent Meeting isn’t likely to have many opponents. The only other probables are Cahill Connection, Cookin Vickie, Speaking Of Time, Zante and Riboletta, the winner of the Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita.

Horse Racing Notes

Post time today is 1:10 p.m., rather than the normal 7 p.m. on Friday. The early post is because of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Hollywood Park is going to take the full card from Churchill Downs Saturday, beginning at 8:30 a.m. . . . Love That Red has been transferred to the barn of trainer Bob Baffert. Owned by Terry Wells, Love That Red had previously been trained by Leonard Duncan.