Lukas saddles $232 maiden winner Perplexed at Saratoga

Carlton Hing's Perplexed jolted historic Saratoga Race Course's tote board - and rewarded a few bold horseplayers - by winning a maiden claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at 115-1 in the opening race on Monday's card.

The longshot, trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, paid $232.50 on a $2 win wager, making it one of the largest payouts in track history.

Jockey Luis Reyes piloted the big-price colt over favorite Your Secrets Safe by a half-length at the wire. The victory not only made an impression at the windows, but also served as a personal milestone for the 22-year-old Reyes, who won his first race at Saratoga.

"The groom showed up the next morning, everybody was trying to borrow money from him," Lukas said. "I think that can only happen at Saratoga. That would never happen anyplace else. Up here everybody is a handicapper, and they get very opinionated. You don't have the opinions like you do around here, like the Pink Sheets, and all that stuff every place else. You have one guy that establishes the morning line like at Churchill, and that's probably it.

"We remarked [on the odds] during the post parade," he added. "I said, 'Look at this, he's jumping up to 80-1 already,' and I turned to friends of Zayat that were standing there next to us. I said, 'He's not this bad, he's training excellent. He's liable to pull this off.' We weren't going to win or anything, but we felt like we would be maybe second or third or fourth, but they beat the field a long way.

"We got a big kick out of it. We got a lot of texts, but Justin Zayat said he got [a slew of] texts after that. Of course, you know the two-dollar bettor is always suspicious."

Perplexed was making his 10th career start and second at Saratoga since his debut last summer where he finished sixth in a field of eight under jockey Luis Saez in the slop. This year, it was Saez who helped the young rider Reyes get his first Spa winners' circle picture.

"That was a calculated move there," said Lukas. "Luis Saez has been riding horses for me, and I told Richie [DePass], that I thought he need to take every edge here. I asked Luis about these bug boys, and Luis actually said this kid [Reyes] can ride. He got him the mount, and I said, 'Well okay, I'm going to take the seven pounds,' that was planned."

Reyes, a seven-pound bug rider from Puerto Rico, said he was thrilled to win his first Saratoga race under the unusual circumstances. 

"For me, it was very emotional," Reyes said. "That first win at Saratoga is very tough. The best jockeys in the country are here. It's very big to win my first race here for a Hall of Fame trainer. It's unbelievable.