Sprint rivals will chase Dianne Do

Although she is making her stakes debut and running against stakes winners Ultra Blend, Broadway Hennessey, and Izzy Rules, Dianne Do's speed makes her the one to beat Saturday in the $75,000 California State Fair Sprint Handicap at Sacramento.

Dianne Do has never been headed this year. She has won 3 of 4 this year, and in her only loss she broke through the rail in a one-mile optional claimer on the Golden Gate turf while on the lead. She won an optional-claiming sprint on the Golden Gate Tapeta one race after her mishap, and then won an allowance at one mile on the turf there in her last start, which came June 12.

"We were looking at this race, and we've freshened her for it," said Bud Klokstad, who trains Dianne Do, a 4-year-old Slewledo filly owned and bred by John Roche.

Dianne Do's only races on dirt, the surface at Sacramento, were losses in Emerald Downs maiden races in her first two starts.

Dianne Do could face an early pace challenge from Izzy Rules, a 3-year-old who drew the outside post in the field of seven fillies and mares. But Klokstad said he doesn't believe Dianne Do needs a perfect scenario to win.

"She rates kindly out there," he said. "She's completely relaxed whether she's running a 25 or 22. In the morning, she's the same.

"Somebody might really want the lead. If she had to, she could lay second or third, and I don't think that would affect her."

Broadway Hennessey is coming off a wire-to-wire victory in a $50,000 optional claimer. Before that, she couldn't keep up with Dianne Do in an optional-claiming sprint and finished second, beaten five lengths.

Izzy Rules gets in at 112 pounds, six fewer than Dianne Do and seven fewer than highweight Ultra Blend. She may not have faced a runner with Dianne Do's early foot and ability to carry her speed.

Ultra Blend makes her second start of the year after a solid comeback try at Hollywood Park on June 23. In her first start after a 10-month break, she finished third, beaten a half-length, in an optional-claiming sprint on turf. She has never failed to pick up a check in her seven stakes tries, hitting the board six times, including a second in the Grade 3 Santa Paula at Santa Anita last year.