Alan Kline's S. S. Hot Sauce, a three-time stakes winner and sire, died March 6 at Kline's farm in Maryland. The son of Sauce Boat—Electric Blanket, by Le Fabuleux, was 33.
"He had a good life; he just laid down in his stall and went," Kline said. "He was a good old horse and we took the best care of him we could."
Bred in Maryland by Kline and Honey Acres Farm, S. S. Hot Sauce raced two years under trainer Jack Kousin, notching four wins and a pair of stakes placings while earning $165,600. Twelve of his 16 starts came in Maryland.
At 3 in 1983, he won the inaugural Maryland Juvenile Championship Stakes at Laurel and the following year won a pair of stakes at the old Bowie racetrack: the Bowie Stakes in February and the Prince George's Stakes in March. Both wins came under rider Larry Saumell.
"His best win was the Prince George's," Kline said. "He was way behind and came running through there like a bowling ball."
Kline put S. S. Hot Sauce on the Triple Crown trail where the bay colt finished far back in the Jim Beam Stakes (gr. III) at Latonia (now Turfway Park). S. S. Hot Sauce ran 10th in Gate Dancer's Preakness Stakes (gr. I) later in the season.
"We stood him for a little bit, but that wasn't my game," Kline said. "That's a whole different business."
S. S. Hot Sauce sired 32 foals in a limited stud career. He had 18 winners and one stakes-placed runner.
"He only liked the girls; he didn't care for guys," Kline remembered. "If a woman was around he'd be as gentle as a bunny, but if I went to get him he'd always give me a tussle."