In 2014, Hot Rize accomplished steeplechasing's version of the dream-come-true: the 10-year-old gelding, owned by Holston Hall, trained by Russell Haynes, and ridden by Willie McCarthy, started four times and won two timber stakes in stellar company to win the National Steeplechase Association's Timber Horse championship.

For all that it took years for the homebred to bloom, the young trainer – he's only 27 — never lost faith in the horse.

"Hot Rize is the last homebred we have left and my dad was high on him," said Haynes, who grew up around horses, riding races and galloping for his trainer father, the late Bruce Haynes. "After a good start, Hot Rize didn't do very well. He wasn't breathing. He couldn't relax and run the way we knew he could — he was a different horse at home. I think Hot Rize needed my father."

Several months after the young horse's racing debut in fall 2007, Bruce Haynes passed away. He was only 46. His wife Anne and the boys — Russell, Will and Aaron — carried on with the farm, but Hot Rize, who even at three had shown exceptional ability, remained a puzzle.

They sent him to trainer Karen Gray, also based in Tennessee. She started foxhunting Hot Rize, who learned to breathe and relax even as he learned to enjoy running and jumping following hounds in full cry. After a therapeutic year off, Hot Rize ran four times in spring 2011. At the Aiken Fall Meet (SC), he broke his maiden over hurdles with a nearly 30-length win in a field of 10. In November, at Callaway (GA), he finished second in his timber debut. Two weeks later, with Will in the irons, Hot Rize won the open timber at the Colonial Cup (SC).

After three timber starts in 2012, Hot Rize returned to Russell who was busy putting together Holston Hall, a syndicate of owners, comprised of himself, his mother Anne, and several like-minded foxhunting enthusiasts: Rob Banner, Ryan Broyles, Brian Ferrell, Bobby Kirk, and Charlie Nulsen.

"I met Russell foxhunting with Tennessee Valley Hunt about three years ago — we're two Tennessee boys who done good," said Broyles. Married to a small animal vet, they own three horses and both get out hunting whenever they can.

"But I had no idea I would be part owner of a timber Horse of the Year," added Broyles. "If you'd told me in college I'd own horses, I'd say you were crazy, but it's just been incredible. Anne and I went to the Middleburg Spring Races in 2013 at Glenwood Park. Hot Rize won the Middleburg Hunt Cup and that was our first trip to the winner's circle. What's so neat about Hot Rize is that his MO is to hang in the bank and in the last quarter- or half-mile, he makes his move. There is no feeling in the world like that."

Rob Banner, president of the Great Meadow Foundation, would second that sentiment. He joined Holston Hall about a year ago to support Russell. He had no expectations, but he remembered that the Haynes family always had nice horses and generally beat him at shows. He still has the red and yellow ribbons.

"Russell's dad and I grew up together. We rode together and competed against each other in little family shows," recalled Banner. "Most everyone else did gaited horses. We were the odd men out, we did hunter-jumper. I didn't know it at the time, but it forged my relationship with the Haynes family.

"Hot Rize is a nice horse, but I didn't have the slightest clue he would be a national champion," continued Banner. "We were a one-horse syndicate, running against big owners like Irv and Diane Naylor, who came up to congratulate us when Hot Rize won the Gold Cup. It was crazy, like getting shot from a cannon."

Russell had always maintained that Hot Rize was a Gold Cup horse. In fact, the horse was tipped to win in May 2013, but he tied up earlier in the week and ran sixth. This year, Hot Rize went into the $75,000 Virginia Gold Cup timber stakes at odds of 10-1 and crossed the finish line three-quarters of a length in front of a game drive by Organisateur, followed by Kinross Farm's Old Timer. Grinding Speed, 2013 winner and favorite at 2-1 odds, finished fourth.

The Gold Cup win catapulted Hot Rize into first place for his first appearance in the sanctioned standings. On October 18, he cemented his bid to be Timber Horse of the Year in the NSA yearbook by driving to a one-half length win in the $50,000 New Jersey Hunt Cup. In his season finale, Hot Rize finished third in the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup, for total earnings of $79,400 and the Timber HOTY title.

Hot Rize owes part of his success to his pilot, Willie McCarthy, who dominated the jockey standings to garner the dual championship on earnings of $735,400 and 23 wins.

Charlie Nulsen, who hunts with Blue Ridge, joined Holston Hall because Russell and Teddy Mulligan, Hot Rize's trainer until last winter when he moved to Seattle, Washington, were convinced that the horse would win the Gold Cup. Nulsen, who didn't exactly feel their faith, especially after that sixth in 2013, figured he would chalk it up to experience. Two weeks later, Hot Rize missed the winner's circle by a nose in the $40,000 Radnor Hunt Cup.

"Russell, who I believe is truly gifted, put the training on himself," recalled Nulsen. "He raced Hot Rize carefully during the fall and trained under terrible conditions that winter. He remained very optimistic all spring, very committed to Hot Rize, and then did exactly what he said he would do and won the Virginia Gold Cup."

Nulsen was in England foxhunting when this story was written and sent his contribution by email. He summed up Russell Haynes quite neatly: gifted, optimistic, committed, and a very hard worker. Setting out to train a champion timber horse from the get-go is a tremendous undertaking, but Haynes uses hills and foxhunting to get the horses fit and understands the importance of not pounding on hard ground, of keeping the horses fresh, of them liking their jobs.

"The greatest lesson I learned from my father is hard work," Haynes said. "The most important thing is to do what you want to do, no matter what it is. He encouraged us to pursue our passions. There was never any pressure on us to do horses. He just wanted us to go all the way once we found it."

His "it" is training timber horses and Hot Rize provided the perfect opportunity to fulfill his legacy. "Accepting the award in South Carolina after the Colonial Cup meant everything to my family, my partners and to me," Haynes said. "Hot Rize is a homebred. That was my family's first championship. We all knew he had it in him. It was just a matter of time. He's a late bloomer, always has been. He's big. He had a problem with nerves. He learned to put it together mentally and finally physically. He's 10 coming on two."