Champion Lemon Drop Kid (Kingmambo–Charming Lassie, by Seattle Slew) has died of an undisclosed cause at the age of 28 at Lane's End, the farm said via a press release on Friday morning.
Foaled at Lane's End and bred by W. S. Farish and W. S. Kilroy, Lemon Drop Kid is out of Charming Lassie, a half-sister to Broodmare of the Year Weekend Surprise (Secretariat). The Lane's End sire was closely-related to the impactful A.P. Indy.
Lemon Drop Kid was sold for $200,000 at the 1997 Keeneland September Sale to Mr. & Mrs. M.J. Dance, Jr. and was raced by Jeanne G. Vance (Mrs. M.J. Dance, Jr.). The colt, who was trained by Flint S. “Scotty” Schulhofer, showed promise at Belmont Park after winning the GI Futurity Stakes and placing in the GI Champagne Stakes as a juvenile.
In his sophomore season, he won the GI Belmont Stakes and captured the GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga. As a 4-year-old, he swept the GI Whitney Handicap, GI Woodward Stakes, GII Suburban Handicap and GII Brooklyn Handicap and earned Eclipse Award honors as Champion Older Horse. All told across 24 starts, Lemon Drop Kid amassed over $3.2 million in earnings over the course of his racing career.
Following his championship season, Lemon Drop Kid returned to Lane's End to begin his career at stud where he served on stallion roster from 2001 to 2020. He was retired from stud duty at age 24.
Lemon Drop Kid is responsible for 109 stakes winners both on the dirt and turf, including 10 Grade I winners and 52 graded stakes winners. He has sired two champions and his progeny earnings stand at over $115 million.
Lemon Drop Kid's top runners include Lemon Pop, the recently retired winner of the G1 Champions Cup and champion dirt horse in Japan with over $5 million in earnings; Lemons Forever, winner of the GI Kentucky Oaks; Beach Patrol, multiple Grade I stakes winner of over $2.5 million; Richard's Kid, winner of two editions of the GI Pacific Classic etc., Somali Lemonade, winner of the GI Diana Stakes; multiple GSW Da Big Hoss and multiple GSW Cosmonaut.
Daughters of Lemon Drop Kid have been responsible for 110 black-type winners all around the world, 36 of those at the graded/group level. Of that group, 16 have succeeded in Group 1/Grade I company, including Eclipse Award winner Forever Unbridled (Unbridled's Song)–a daughter of GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Lemons Forever–fellow Breeders' Cup winners Tamarkuz (Speightstown), Finest City (City Zip) and Bar of Gold (Medaglia d'Oro) and the promising European-based first-crop sire Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}).
“Many of us at Lane's End were here at the farm when Lemon Drop Kid was foaled in May of 1996,” said Lane's End Farm President Bill Farish. “We are profoundly blessed to have been associated with this exceptional horse for his entire life, watching him develop into a champion racehorse and then a top sire of over 100 stakes winners. He will be greatly missed, and we will forever honor his legacy.”
Lemon Drop Kid will be buried in the stallion cemetery at the farm.
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