Hayden 'From the Bottom' to Graded Glory at Keeneland

There is little other magic akin to a Saturday afternoon at Keeneland.

Grandstands fill to the brim with fashionable spectators while velvety bread pudding is doled out in heaps next to dainty champagne glasses bubbling with liquid courage.

The harmonic buzz of excited cheers mixed with exasperated sighs at the conclusion of a race is a soundtrack that carries throughout the day.

Many come just to get their first up-close look at a racehorse, place a bet or two, and spend much-needed downtime with friends and family. It is an environment that could be typified somewhere between slightly overwhelming and entirely exhilarating.

With a short glance past the ceaseless noise and into the minds of the competitors—breeders, owners, trainers, and jockeys alike—it is a shared dream which lies underneath the experience, tasting success on one of the greatest stages in the world for Thoroughbred racing.

For small-town Henderson Ky., native Nathan Hayden, winning a graded stake at the esteemed Lexington oval with his sole runner would have been downright remarkable.

Yet there he was April 8, face filled with delight and arms pumping into the air as his homebred Here Mi Song  thundered down the stretch to win the Commonwealth Stakes (G3), giving both Hayden and his Ellis Park-based trainer Billy Stinson their first win at the level.

"I always watched that track on TV and you just dream about going there to visit one time. Heck, before, my dream was just to run at Ellis Park," Hayden said. "This horse is taking me places I never dreamed about going.

"It's too good to be true almost, but we knew he could do it. It's just a matter of getting the right trip, right day, and right surface. He's just an amazing horse. I'm new in this business, so I've learned a whole lot in the last 10-12 years."

Hayden's relationship with an older man named R.L. Bumpus was what sparked the Thoroughbred bug in him. Despite growing up in Kentucky around friends who owned horses, he was never privileged enough to have his own until Bumpus's mare Mi Viera caught his eye.

"I saw this old mare out there, and they caught me sneaking feed to her one day," he said. "I'd go out there and give her hay and feed and pet her. One day (Bumpus) said 'You need to buy this old mare!' That's how it started; I went into partnership with him and bought half of the mare."

Eventually, Bumpus would tell Hayden that he no longer wanted to be involved in the breeding business and suggested that he should buy the other half in the mare. Hayden willingly obliged and made a deal to keep the mare at their farm.

What ensued afterward were several years of ups and downs with the mare who could not seem to get in foal. Hayden would make trip after trip to the Lexington breeding sheds and come back empty-handed each time.

In 2014, the mare finally gave birth to her first foal, a daughter of Orient named Shine On Dixie. Unfortunately, she would have a pasture accident as a yearling which ended any chances at a racing career. Hayden was back to the drawing board.

Looking for a solution, he decided to leave the mare in Lexington to be bred in early 2017 with the founder of Doc's Products, Dr. Douglas Beebe. With the help of fertility veterinarians and much to Hayden's delight, Mi Viera began carrying a Cross Traffic   foal.

"The pedigree I copied off of was Arrogate. I thought, 'I might not be able to go to Unbridled's Song, but maybe I can go to one of his freshman sires.' I called Spendthrift Farm up and they were pretty shocked. They asked how many mares I had and I said 'just one,' (but) they treated me just like I had 20 or 30."

After the mare was successfully bred, Hayden took her back to his home, where he had built a barn and paddock to keep her close. In March of 2018, Here Mi Song arrived.

"He's a ham. You could literally take a 2- or 3-year-old kid and they could go out and climb his leg and he'd let them," Hayden said. "They could jump on his head and pull his ears. He loves attention, if anyone is touching him, he's there to take it in."

While working a full-time job running his construction business (Hayden Construction), he raised the young horse on his farm on the side until he was ready to go into training. After looking into a few different options, it made sense to send the horse to Stinson, who trained near Hayden's' home and would give him the flexibility to come and see the horse whenever he wanted.

Sadly it was around the same time when his mentor and close friend, Bumpus, would pass at the age of 95 in June of 2020. Hayden would then assume custody of his son Jeff, who struggles with a mental disability.

"The whole time I was getting into business with the broodmare, I've always helped out around the farm with the Bumpus's. They came to me and asked me to take care of their mentally challenged son if something was to happen and he was to be left in this world by himself. In 2020, I took over full custody and guardianship of 67-year-old Jeff Bumpus.

"Jeff has been around these horses for over 60 years. Even though he's got his disabilities, he's a good hand. Every time I take (Mi Viera) up the road (to Lexington), I have him accompany me; it's some of our fellowshipping, as he calls it," Hayden said with a laugh.

Though it would seem that life had turned into a juggling act, Hayden chose to look at it as the glass was half full, an ideology that seems integral to his way of life.

"You have to deal with the cards God deals you," Hayden said. "You can either cry about it or make something happen, and I've tried to make something happen with it. I start every morning about six or seven, and I take care of my horses for an hour, hour and a half before I go to work, and then I take care of them every afternoon after I get done working."

Hayden's only other horse is a 4-year-old Mucho Macho Man   filly named Taylor B, who, despite being talented, has not been able to kick soundness issues in recent years. The mare has been barren since the filly was born, making Hayden's success with Here Mi Song all the sweeter.

The 5-year-old gelding, who is feeling fresh after his last start, according to Hayden, will point towards a start in the Churchill Downs Stakes (G1) on the undercard of the May 6 Kentucky Derby (G1).

"He's taken us this far, so it's like, 'Why not?' He's the one paving the way. I've learned a lot and how to be a horseman and that's my main goal," he said. "You have to listen to your horse and let them tell you where they want to go."

In the years to come, Hayden would like to add a couple more runners to his small stable and continue to fulfill his "kid dream."

Nonetheless, he sure is off to a good start.

"That old man (Bumpus) always told me, 'You don't realize what it's like to have a horse in a race until it's coming down the stretch and has a possibility to win,'" Hayden said. "You have no idea what it's going to feel like.' He said, 'Trust me, if you ever do it one time, that's living.' And he's right."