Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra to face 4 female rivals in 1st race in 6 months

Rachel Alexandra to face 4 rivals in 2010 debut

NEW ORLEANS — The wait is almost over for Rachel Alexandra.

The 2009 Horse of the Year will face four rivals when she makes her first start in six months in Saturday’s $200,000 New Orleans Ladies at the Fair Grounds.

The 4-year-old filly drew the No. 2 post position Monday and regular rider Calvin Borel will be aboard. Rachel will be challenged by Fighter Wing, Zardana, Unforgotten and Clear Sailing.

Rachel Alexandra completed an 8-0 campaign last year with a victory against older males in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 5. Rachel also won the Preakness and the Haskell Invitational against 3-year-old males.

Against 3-year-old fillies, she won the Kentucky Oaks by 20¼ lengths and the Mother Goose by 19¼ lengths.

In the 1 1-16-mile Ladies, the filly trained by Steve Asmussen faces a field of 4-year-old fillies and mares. Her most formidable foe could be Zardana, a 6-year-old mare bred in Brazil who won the 2009 Bayakoa Handicap.

She is trained by John Shirreffs, who also trains unbeaten Zenyatta, the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner preparing to face Rachel Alexandra in the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park on April 8. Zenyatta makes her first start of the year in Saturday’s Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita.

Fighter Wing, who drew the rail, set the pace in the Pelleteri Stakes last month at the Fair Grounds before finishing second to Clear Sailing. Unforgotten has earned more than $500,000 with several stakes wins.

Rachel Alexandra breezed 4 furlongs in 49 seconds Monday in her final work before the race.

Asmussen said Rachel “went beautiful … did very well, looked good.” The workout was Rachel’s seventh this year.