A Face in the Stall: How Pink Gelato Won Julie Belanger’s Heart
TORONTO, April 25, 2025— One look was all it took for Julie Belanger to know the grey gelding would one day be hers.
Driving onto the sprawling 100-acre property in Hillsburgh, Ontario – home to more than 50 retired racehorses – Belanger smiled as she watched dozens of familiar Thoroughbreds grazing in the fields.
Then she spotted an unfamiliar, yet unmistakable face peeking out from a stall at one of LongRun’s barns.
“I was driving up to the farm to get some content and I saw this face poking out of the stall and a little pink nose,” recalled Belanger, who handles the reins of social media duties for LongRun, the first industry-funded Thoroughbred adoption program in Canada founded in 1999.
“I thought, ‘Wow… a new horse.’”
But not just any horse.
The handsome grey son of Ami’s Holiday, owned by Geaux Racing, had a brief racing career: 14 starts, no wins, three seconds, and three thirds, with purse earnings just under $50,000.
Winless after his first year of racing in 2022, his connections, including trainer Darwin Banach, were looking forward to Pink Gelato’s 2023 campaign, convinced he would break his maiden early on.
That milestone would never come – the horse, who was bred by Ron Clarkson, had torn his tendon.
The group unanimously made the decision to donate Pink Gelato to Long Run.
Belanger is grateful they did.
“I had no intention of adopting him because I was free leasing another horse, a warmblood. A year of us getting to know each other – it was a very reciprocal connection – Lauren [LongRun farm manager, Millet] said, ‘You should really adopt this horse.’
“I started thinking about him going away to someone else and I just couldn’t do that.”
Last July, they made the adoption official.
Later that year, in a LongRun Facebook post, Banach wrote, “Brings our entire barn to happy tears seeing him have such an incredible second career and having someone love him to pieces. Thank you, Julie, for letting this guy capture your heart!”
Though his Hollywood leading man looks were undeniable, it was personality, not physical attributes, that won Belanger’s heart.
“That [personality] is what really sold me on him. Although, I hate using that term because I was already smitten. He’s a real cuddler and very curious. He wants to interact. I would spend time with him in his stall and he was always so accommodating, letting me do whatever I needed to do.”
Eventually, she would be the first to get a leg up on “Gelly.”
“It came to a point where we could start riding him – people thought I was crazy to be the first one – and Lauren was very open to me being the first one. It was unreal – he was incredible.
“I think he is one of those horses who went through the whole process of racing and still kept his curiosity after his final race. It’s a bit of naivete, but I think that comes from his natural curiosity. He has a bit of what might be perceived as laziness, but I think it is his way of expressing his opinion on something. There is no meanness to him at all. I feel so lucky.”
Which is how Belanger describes her connection to LongRun and its beloved equine residents.
“I feel blessed. I had my own company, and I was debating as to whether we should stay open or close it down. We had a commercial photography and motion company. Things were changing in that industry, and I was looking for a way to volunteer. I opted for horses because I love them, and I started volunteering with LongRun in 2019.
Just over four years later, she met Pink Gelato.
“I just fell in love with him.”
The gelding lives at Robin Williamson’s farm in Acton, not far from where Belanger calls home.
Time is always well spent whenever Belanger and Pink Gelato are together.
“I do work with a coach, Samantha Fawcett, of Meraki Equestrian, who has been coaching us since November. Whatever Gelly wants to do is what we will do. I am not a competitor, but I do like dressage and jumping.”
There are also trails, happy ones, that lead to memorable times for both.
As for who derives the most joy from those hacks, it could very well be, in racing parlance, a dead heat.
“He is always thrilled to go,” said Belanger. “I can’t believe I have this horse. I always tell him that I feel so lucky. That is what goes through my mind. It might sound mushy, but there is something very spiritual being out in nature on a horse. You can tell that he loves it.
“I also want to do some different things with him, including overnight camping.”
Whether it is under blue skies or starlit nights, Belanger has no preference – being with her beloved grey is all that matters.
She thinks often of the journey that brought her and Pink Gelato together.
“He had my heart from that first day, but I wanted to make sure everything was right for him. I started thinking about him more and more, and then the timing was right. As soon as I saw that pink nose, I knew I was done.”
Belanger is grateful for LongRun and its sizable contributions to horse welfare.
“I just fell in love with them. How can you not love it when the value and the goal is to help these amazing horses?
“As someone who adopts from them, you feel the support from everyone there. I know I am attached to the organization, but I see that with adopters as well – it is so amazing to be connected to a place where everyone is committed to doing what is best for the horse. I say it all the time, but I do feel like I have won the lottery doing what I do with LongRun.”
She hit the jackpot with Pink Gelato.
Belanger has seen many others walk away smiling after interacting with him.
“That [joy] is what he brings out in you. He always has to reach out and give people little kisses and introduce himself.”
His proud owner has embraced the responsibility that comes with adopting a horse.
Her goal for Pink Gelato is simple, yet heartfelt.
“In my mind, I can go way ahead and know that if anything happens to me, I already know who he would be going with, and I have money set aside for him. I want to give him the best life possible.”
Something she perhaps knew the moment she saw that face peering out from his stall.
As the one-year anniversary of the adoption date draws closer, Belanger finds herself looking back to the day she first met Pink Gelato.
She also often thinks of what is to come.
“Whatever lies ahead for us, I know it’s going to be great.”
Chris Lomon, Woodbine
