Diana distance the challenge for Tepin

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though she has won all three of her starts in 2015, including the Grade 1 Just a Game, Tepin still has questions to answer in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Diana Stakes at Saratoga.

Primarily, can she get the 1 1/8 miles the Diana requires?

In six career starts on turf, Tepin has three wins and a second. Her two bad efforts on turf have come in races at 1 1/8 miles.

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In the Grade 3 Regret at Churchill Downs in June 2014, she finished last. Tepin “almost got put over the fence,” trainer Mark Casse said.

In the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August, where she again finished last, Tepin came out of the race with a problem that Casse believed to be a case of the thumps, an electrolyte imbalance.

“I wouldn’t base any opinions on those races,” Casse said Wednesday. “That all being said, I don’t know if she’ll go a mile and an eighth. I think the key is if Julien [Leparoux] can get her to relax early, because if she doesn’t relax, it’s going to be tough.”

Owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trainer Chad Brown have entered two in the Diana, with Kitten’s Queen a rabbit for Stephanie’s Kitten. That tactic didn’t work in the New York Stakes, where Kitten’s Queen finished in front of Stephanie’s Queen. Both will have new riders Saturday, with Jose Ortiz riding Kitten’s Queen and Irad Ortiz Jr. riding Stephanie’s Kitten.

Hard Not to Like, the winner of the Grade 1 Gamely last out, and the Bill Mott uncoupled duo of My Miss Sophia and Lady Lara also were entered in the Diana, which will go as race 10 on the 11-race card.