He was sired by Kingmambo an American-bred horse who raced in Europe before returning to the United States to become a highly successful breeding stallion.
[3] As a two-year-old in 1998 Lemon Drop Kid showed himself to be a very promising colt with a victory in the Grade III Belmont Futurity in September.
Lemon Drop Kid won a minor race at Gulfstream Park in February 1999 but then appeared to have his limitations exposed when he was well-beaten in the Blue Grass Stakes and then finished ninth to Charismatic in the Kentucky Derby.
Ridden by José A. Santos he came from well off the pace to overtake Charismatic in the stretch and held off the rallying outsider Vision And Verse to win by a head.
[5] In August Lemon Drop Kid followed up in the Travers Stakes, beating Vision And Verse again, with Menifee and Cat Thief among the other beaten horses.