ForumHarness Racing: HorsesMonte Vista for Bgtolex25

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Monte Vista for Bgtolex25

#1 · March 15, 2026, 9:32 AM

Since my wife rolled her eyes when I excitedly shared this clip with her, I am posting here looking for a more supportive reception 😏

Sharing a clip here of my non-Stable 2 year old, Monte Vista. He is from the first crop on Monte Miki and is training down in Hawkinsville, GA in the Jeff Nisonger Stable. The gelding is owned by a 3 way partnership in which I am a minority owner at 20%.

MV has been labeled as of March 2026:

A slug, lazy and needs to be encouraged to put in effort. But will do it. Only staked to Buckeye and Fairs for 2026 because of his lack of natural fire in the belly mentality.

Saddle horse personality. No bad barn attributes

Clean gaited. No equipment other than the standard blind bridle.

And someday, I hope that I look back and say about him. “Wow, look at you now.”

Uploaded files:

Monte-Vista-1st-gate-schooling.mp4

#2 · March 15, 2026, 9:35 AM

He looks like a world beater to me! Nice to see them trained to the gate so early.

Good luck!!

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#3 · April 14, 2026, 5:14 PM

Me and my boy at Warren County Fairgrounds today. He just arrived from the long trip from southern GA with his stablemates. When I put him back in his stall, he started kicking and jumping. I think that he thought that he was going to the track and got a bit amped up. Otherwise, very social boy and well behaved. Looked like a million bucks to me, but I might be biased.

Uploaded files:

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#4 · April 15, 2026, 8:29 PM

What a cool pic!

#5 · April 15, 2026, 10:10 PM

He looks great, can't wait to see him race this summer.

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#6 · April 16, 2026, 7:11 AM

Thx all for your positivity. He looks in good condition, and he seems happy and content. The caretaker said he had just been keeping his head out over the stall gate constantly, just taking in the barn action.

I “tongue in cheek” recommended breaking him to saddle, just to give him more mental stimulation and as a diversion from the redundancy.

Not sure that he will be a quality racehorse, but he has the pedigree and looks the part. His mind may or may not say otherwise.

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#7 · May 29, 2026, 2:22 PM

Visited my boy this morning in Lebanon.

Status update:

Still lazy and laid back. I was offered the opportunity to jog him but declined. It has been 30 plus years since I sat in a jog cart, and I thought Nisonger was crazy to make the offer. I thought that I better evaluate Jeff's mental state and maybe do it later this summer.
Trained in 2:06 last Monday in race bike, going solo. The plan is to use the June fairs as schooling. If he looks the part, then they will graduate him to Buckeye in July. June 9 at Paulding is the first opportunity.
If the video opens, then I apologize for the quality. I forgot to take my I Pad, which is much better than my Galaxy phone. The rider was nice enough to take him a slow mile the right way just for my benefit. The colt was not affected by water truck or the rider slowing him for an impromptu walk for 5 minutes as he attempted to light his next dart.
Other harness racing matters
1. Saw TheStable's Chicago Hall and Nuclear who are with Scott Davidson at the same Warren County Fairgrounds. Scott was very chatty about matters. Seems like a good dude. Bridge Over Broadway is currently getting some R&R in Kentucky.
2. Dan Noble called off at Northfield for Monday's drives, resulting in a whirlwind of activity trying to find drivers for already entered horses. Reportedly, Noble is close to wearing out his welcome at Northfield as well. The feeling was that something was going to drop soon...??? Keep an eye if any Noble trained horses are still entered at Northfield.
3. Ronnie Gilepsie's nice 3-year-old trotter, Big Ranger, was abruptly pulled from Ronnie's stable and sent south to Annette Lorenzan. This occurred just days after a track record at Scioto in the OSS. The people that were talking were all in shock and couldn't understand the move and felt awful for Ronnie.
4. I miss the barns...the language and colorful characters are "special"

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#8 · May 29, 2026, 11:00 PM

Poor Ronnie. SMH

As for Noble, as I posted in another thread, in the Camluck Final Per Engblom and Kristi Noble finished 1-2. SMH (again!)

#9 · May 30, 2026, 8:05 PM

Quote from Bgtolex25 on May 29, 2026, 2:22 PM

Visited my boy this morning in Lebanon.

Status update:

Still lazy and laid back.

My apologies if I am being overly reminiscent of past experiences and future dreams. I need to flush the bad taste of Madison Global (owners of Big Ranger) from my soul.

This colt, Monte Vista, reminds me so much of my Tennessee Walker trail horse that took me thru so many adventures in the Pacific NW mountains. More of a pet dog personality vs. a horse. No matter how many times that I went to Monte Vista’s stall gate, he would come over for a full interaction and forever how long that I wanted to stand there with scratches, whispers of encouragement, and playing with his mouth.

I encourage all of you to get to the barns and races as much as you can. Enjoy the ride and don’t get dragged into the muck.

I need to come up with a barn nickname for him, because I am not enamored with his name.

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#10 · June 6, 2026, 5:32 PM

@bgtolex25

Good Luck, with Monte on Tuesday !!!

I'll be watching.

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