It was a busy Monday for Rachel Alexandra, as the reigning Horse of the Year turned in her final work for her season debut hours before post positions were drawn for that race, the New Orleans Ladies Stakes at the Fair Grounds.

With regular exercise rider Dom Terry aboard, the 4-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro breezed an easy four furlongs in :49 flat. She turned in splits of :25.20 and :37.20, finished up the last furlong in :11.80 for her final time, and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.80.

"It’s hard to compare her to anybody else so we just gave her an easy half and let him get along with her and it looked like she went beautiful," trainer Steve Asmussen said. "She’s a beautiful mover. That’s how she runs and that’s what makes her special. She went over the racetrack very well; it was in great shape this morning. That’s all we could hope for. She got the breeze in, did very well, looked good."

Putting the finishing touches on her preparations, the filly also schooled in the paddock on Saturday afternoon and is likely to do so again this week.

Later, Rachel Alexandra drew post 2 in a field of five for the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies, an ungraded mile and a sixteenth event that was created specifically to lure the filly, who has been stabled at the Fair Grounds since December. Regular rider Calvin Borel will, of course, be aboard in her first start since taking the Woodward on Sept. 5.

The only other graded stakes winner in the field is California invader Zardana, who took the Bayakoa in December. The 6-year-old breaks from the three under David Flores for trainer John Shirreffs - who hopes, of course, to tackle Rachel with unbeaten champion Zenyatta in next month's Apple Blossom Invitational.

Rachel Alexandra carries high weight of 123 pounds, the maximum allowed under the conditions of the race. Zardana is assigned 121, while the rest - Fighter Wing, Unforgotten and Clear Sailing - carry 117.