Turfway Park: Mac the Man takes second straight prep leading to Spiral Stakes

Mac the Man broke fastest of all and proceeded to lead all the way in the $50,000 96Rocks Stakes, giving jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. a Saturday stakes sweep at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.

Trained locally by Jeff Greenhill for his wife, Sherri, Mac the Man returned $4 as the favorite in a field of 10 after finishing two lengths ahead of his race-long pursuer, Bye Bye Bernie. It was another 6 1/4 lengths back to Takin the Sloroad.

Mac the Man, a Kentucky-bred colt by El Corredor, finished the one-mile distance in 1:40.52 over Polytrack.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Arroyo, the leading jockey at the Turfway winter-spring meet, rated his mount through well-gauged fractions of 24.33 seconds, 48.16, and 1:13.60 and had plenty left to remain clear of Bye Bye Bernie, the 7-2 third choice for trainer Kelly Breen.

The 96Rocks is the second of four stakes for 3-year-olds at the meet. It will be followed by the John Battaglia Memorial on March 2 and the Turfway showcase race, the Spiral Stakes, on March 23. Mac the Man won the first race in the series, the Turfway Prevue, and Greenhill said he would like to keep the colt on the Turfway path.

Two races earlier Saturday, Allanah ($15.80) and Arroyo overpowered eight other 3-year-old fillies with a devastating stretch run in the $50,000 Cincinnati Trophy Stakes, winning by 5 1/2 lengths.

Allanah was well back before looping the field leaving the quarter pole for her second win in three career starts. Our Jenny B, the 2-1 favorite, launched a belated run to get second, another three-quarters of a length before Julmae.

Allanah, a gray filly by Scat Daddy, finished the 6 1/2-furlong distance in 1:20.89. Kellyn Gorder trains her for the TK Stables.