Dam Critikola Foaled 2003 Colour Chestnut Species Equus caballus Parents Lemon Drop Kid Earnings 648,940 USD | Damsire Tough Critic Country United States Breeder Farfellow Farms Ltd. Trainer Dallas Stewart Sex Filly Grandsire Kingmambo | |
Lemons Forever (foaled May 24, 2003 in Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the Grade 1 132nd Kentucky Oaks horse race on May 5, 2006. Her win was the biggest upset in the history of the Oaks.
The Kentucky Oaks had a full field of fourteen fillies, with Lemons Forever posting the highest odds, at 47-1. She trailed throughout the race, only to rally late and win by 1½ lengths.
A $2 bet on Lemons Forever paid $96.20, and a $2 trifecta paid $12,186.60.
Lemons Forever did not make a run for the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing, the filly equivalent of the Triple Crown, as she did not compete in the second leg of the competition, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, on May 19.
After winning the Oaks, Lemons Forever raced ten more times (eight in Grade 1 or Grade 2 races), only winning once in an optional claimer and running 3rd in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. She was retired in 2007.
Retirement
Lemons Forever sold for $2.5 million at the sold for $2.5 million at the 2007 Keeneland broodmare sale to geologist Charles Fipke. She first produced two foals by Fipke's 2003 Canadian Champion Male Turf Horse Perfect Soul, a 2009 filly named Perfect Forever and a 2010 colt named Forever Perfect. She then produced two foals by Unbridled's Song.
The first, a 2011 filly named Unbridled Forever, ran 3rd in the 2014 Kentucky Oaks and as a 4-year-old won the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes, earning over $800,000 in her career. Her second, a 2012 filly named Forever Unbridled, hit her best stride as a late 3-year-old. Closing out 2015 with a win in the Grade 3 Comely Stakes, as a 4-year-old she won the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic Stakes and followed that effort with a win in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap.
In 2013, Lemons Forever produced a colt by Medaglia d'Oro named Forever d'Oro. In 2015, she was bred back to Medaglia d'Oro for a 2016 foal.