Is the whole HUD transparent? Because I think the text is actually under the sprite, not over it. To draw text above sprites, there are a few options you can try:
Hide the sprite and display it with dbPasteSprite instead of dbSprite, then draw the text after pasting the sprite. This way you can control the drawing order.
I don't know if dbPasteSprite will correctly handle the transparency. If it doesn't, you can also try to write the text over the image itself and then make the sprite from the modified image.
In another forum thread, I read that if you use native DirectX text, then it displays above sprites. Maybe you can try Hassan's text plugin:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=167715&b=22
Have a look at this thread as well:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=169931&b=22