1999, CH H, by Pioneering—Stay With Bruce by Grey Dawn II
Trained by Bob Baffert, Jack Carava, Mike Mitchell, Ryan Beattie
Lifetime:  47 Starts, 8 Wins
 
HISTORY: Surely, it was destiny. After all, how could a horse named Danthebluegrassman not end up in the Bluegrass?
 
Bred in Kentucky and campaigned by Bob Baffert and owner Mike Pegram, our man Dan took a somewhat circuitous route back to these Elysium paddocks. The son of Pioneering, he broke his maiden at Hollywood Park in his third career start. For his first stakes win, the chestnut went wire-to-wire in the Gold Rush Stakes (gr. III) at Golden Gate Park and had a second stakes win there in his 3-year-old debut in the Golden Gate Derby. Despite a disastrous run in the Santa Anita, Dan earned entry in the field for the 128th run-for-the roses, though he scratched that morning after tying up following a jog.  He nevertheless returned to score a big win at Churchill in the Northern Dancer Stakes.
 
With less than impressive bloodlines, Dan stayed in the game and raced for Baffert until he was six, after which he began a three-year spiral down the claiming ranks, which included races in New York, California, and Florida.
 
When he showed up on the card in a $7,500 claimer at Penn National, Old Friends contacted his owners, R and J Thoroughbreds, and made a deal to bring the 9-year-old local home. He arrived in March 2008, almost nine years to the day after he was foaled on  central Kentucky farm.