Off impressive maiden score, Hypnus will point toward Risen Star or Rebel

The 3-year-old colt Hypnus won his 1 1/16-mile debut in a maiden race Saturday in a faster time than the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds on the same card, earning an 85 Beyer Speed Figure, seven points higher than Lecomte winner Disco Time. Travelling smoothly from midpack under Brian Hernandez Jr., Hypnus steadily gained from the three-furlong marker, hitting the front at the sixteenth pole and drawing smoothly away to a two-length win.

Kenny McPeek, who trains Hypnus for Brookdale Racing, will not fool around with incremental development and said Sunday he plans to run back either in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds or the Rebel at Oaklawn.

"He’s never been outmatched in the morning – and in the afternoon either, I guess. It wasn’t a big surprise to me,” McPeek said.

Hypnus, by Into Mischief and out of the Grade 1 winner Dream Tree, began breezing in June but developed what McPeek termed “a little issue” that delayed his debut. He proved worth the wait.

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