Lemons Forever (USA)
May 24, 2003 – Living
Lemon Drop Kid (USA) x Critikola (ARG), by Tough Critic (USA)
Family 4-m
May 24, 2003 – Living
Lemon Drop Kid (USA) x Critikola (ARG), by Tough Critic (USA)
Family 4-m
The first Grade 1 winner sired by 2000 American champion older male Lemon Drop Kid, Lemons Forever came from bloodlines that combined some of the best of North American and Argentine breeding. She was not a consistent racer, but she vindicated the worth of her pedigree with an upset score in the Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1). She did still better as a producer, becoming the first Kentucky Oaks winner to be honored as a Kentucky Broodmare of the Year.
Race record
16 starts, 4 wins, 1 second, 2 thirds, US$648,941
2006:
As an individual
A leggy, light-framed chestnut mare; Lemons Forever was a gritty, determined runner when on her game. She likes peppermints as treats.
As a producer
Lemons Forever was voted the Kentucky Broodmare of the Year in 2017. As of October 23, 2024, she has produced nine named foals of racing age, of which eight have started and five have won. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Lemons Forever was bred in Kentucky by Kip and Suzanne Knelman’s Farfellow Farms. A US$140,000 purchase from the 2004 Keeneland September yearling sale, Lemons Forever was owned by Leon Willis, Terry Horton, and Dale Stewart and was trained by Stewart. She was ridden to her Kentucky Oaks success by Mark Guidry. In 2007, Lemons Forever came back to the sale ring at the 2007 Keeneland November mixed sale and sold to Charles Fipke for US$2.5 million as a racing or broodmare prospect.
Pedigree notes
Lemons Forever is inbred 5x4 to the good sire Boldnesian, winner of the 1966 Santa Anita Derby. She is a half sister to stakes-placed Critikal Reason (by Aptitude), dam of juvenile listed stakes winner Bajan (by Speightstown).
Lemons Forever was produced from Critikola (by the Grade 1-placed Grey Dawn II horse Tough Critic), who won two Group 2 races in her native Argentina and was Grade/Group 1-placed in both Argentine and the United States. Critikola, in turn, is out of the winner Hola Keats, whose sire Keats (by Argentine champion Carapalida) won the 1975 Gran Premio 25 de Mayo (ARG-G1) and was that year's Argentine champion older male.
Hola Keats is a half sister to Argentine Group 2 winner Fray Amor (by Frari) and to Hello Baby (by Proudest Roman), dam of 1985 Chilean champion older female Frau Heidi (by Frari) and second dam of 2003 Grande Prêmio Presidente da Republica (BRZ-G1) winner Mr. Carrea. Hola Keats is also a half sister to Frau Helen (by Frari), dam of Argentine listed stakes winner Maximilian Rey (by Firery Ensign).
Hola Keats and her siblings were produced from Hello Love, an unraced daughter of 1966 Argentine Quadruple Crown winner Forli. The female line traces back to 1904 Kentucky Oaks winner Audience via her daughter Matinee, a foundation mare for the Whitney breeding program.
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photo taken by Jessica Morgan at the 2007 Keeneland November mixed sale. Used by permission.
Last updated: October 23, 2024
Race record
16 starts, 4 wins, 1 second, 2 thirds, US$648,941
2006:
- Won Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
- 3rd Alabama Stakes (USA-G1, 10FD, Saratoga)
- 3rd Bourbonette Breeders' Cup Stakes (USA-G3, 8FD, Turfway Park)
As an individual
A leggy, light-framed chestnut mare; Lemons Forever was a gritty, determined runner when on her game. She likes peppermints as treats.
As a producer
Lemons Forever was voted the Kentucky Broodmare of the Year in 2017. As of October 23, 2024, she has produced nine named foals of racing age, of which eight have started and five have won. Her important foals are as follow:
- Unbridled Forever (2011, by Unbridled’s Song) won three stakes races including the 2015 Ballerina Stakes (USA-G1). She died in March 2021 after producing only three named foals with one winner among them.
- Forever Unbridled (2012, by Unbridled’s Song) won five Grade 1 races and was the American champion older dirt female of 2017.
Connections
Lemons Forever was bred in Kentucky by Kip and Suzanne Knelman’s Farfellow Farms. A US$140,000 purchase from the 2004 Keeneland September yearling sale, Lemons Forever was owned by Leon Willis, Terry Horton, and Dale Stewart and was trained by Stewart. She was ridden to her Kentucky Oaks success by Mark Guidry. In 2007, Lemons Forever came back to the sale ring at the 2007 Keeneland November mixed sale and sold to Charles Fipke for US$2.5 million as a racing or broodmare prospect.
Pedigree notes
Lemons Forever is inbred 5x4 to the good sire Boldnesian, winner of the 1966 Santa Anita Derby. She is a half sister to stakes-placed Critikal Reason (by Aptitude), dam of juvenile listed stakes winner Bajan (by Speightstown).
Lemons Forever was produced from Critikola (by the Grade 1-placed Grey Dawn II horse Tough Critic), who won two Group 2 races in her native Argentina and was Grade/Group 1-placed in both Argentine and the United States. Critikola, in turn, is out of the winner Hola Keats, whose sire Keats (by Argentine champion Carapalida) won the 1975 Gran Premio 25 de Mayo (ARG-G1) and was that year's Argentine champion older male.
Hola Keats is a half sister to Argentine Group 2 winner Fray Amor (by Frari) and to Hello Baby (by Proudest Roman), dam of 1985 Chilean champion older female Frau Heidi (by Frari) and second dam of 2003 Grande Prêmio Presidente da Republica (BRZ-G1) winner Mr. Carrea. Hola Keats is also a half sister to Frau Helen (by Frari), dam of Argentine listed stakes winner Maximilian Rey (by Firery Ensign).
Hola Keats and her siblings were produced from Hello Love, an unraced daughter of 1966 Argentine Quadruple Crown winner Forli. The female line traces back to 1904 Kentucky Oaks winner Audience via her daughter Matinee, a foundation mare for the Whitney breeding program.
Fun facts
- At 47-1, Lemons Forever was the longest shot ever to win the Kentucky Oaks.
- Lemons Forever represented a fairytale finish for the Hortons and Stewart. When the young trainer struck out on his own after having been an assistant to D. Wayne Lukas, it was the Texas-based Horton family who helped Stewart buy the initial equipment he needed and sent him his first horses to train. Stewart picked Lemons Forever out for the Hortons at the 2004 Keeneland September sale, and after their filly’s Oaks triumph, the entire Horton family and the friends who had accompanied them piled into the winner’s circle to celebrate. As an epilogue to the story, Stewart later trained both of Lemons Forever’s Grade 1-winning daughters for Charles Fipke, who started sending horses to Stewart for training after meeting him at the Keeneland November sale where Fipke bought the mare.
Photo credit
Photo taken by Jessica Morgan at the 2007 Keeneland November mixed sale. Used by permission.
Last updated: October 23, 2024