Excellent Meeting Only Second Best

For the third time in three days, a high profile female runner trained by Bob Baffert was beaten at a short price.

Following the failures of Silverbulletday and Tuzla the previous two days at Churchill Downs, Excellent Meeting was second as the 2-5 favorite in the $150,000 Hawthorne Handicap on Sunday at Hollywood Park.

Riboletta, who won the Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita in March, easily handled Excellent Meeting, who was making her first start since Aug. 22 at Del Mar. This was the second win in five starts for Riboletta, the 3-1 second choice, since she was transferred from Baffert’s barn to Eduardo Inda by owners Aaron and Marie Jones early this year. Ridden by Chris McCarron, the 5-year-old mare completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 1/5.

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Making his first start since finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last Nov. 6, Dixie Union beat odds-on favorite Swept Overboard in 1:15 1/5 for the 6 1/2 furlongs. It was his fifth win in seven starts. . . . Brutally Frank extended his win streak to four with the biggest win of his career. The 6-year-old Groovy gelding outgamed longshot Western Expression to take the $200,000 Carter Handicap, a Grade I, on the final day of the meeting at Aqueduct.