Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Christine dies, age 87

Bill Christine, a writer for the Los Angeles Times since 1982, died last week at age 87.

The news was reported on Sunday's Thoroughbred L.A. radio program, and Los Angeles Times writer John Cherwa confirmed Christine's death for Horse Racing Nation.

Christine won two Eclipse Awards while with the L.A. Times, most recently for a 2003 article about Kayak II and his defeat by stablemate Seabiscuit in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap.

In 2020, he wrote a book about Bill Hartack, five-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, called “Bill Hartack: The Bittersweet Life of a Hall of Fame Jockey.”

According to a 2021 article in the Daily Breeze of Southern California, Christine won nine national writing awards and shared in a Pulitzer Prize. In addition to racing, Chirsting covered a lot of baseball, writing a biography on baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.

Christine told the Daily Breeze he had attended 35 editions of the Kentucky Derby, including more than 20 while working at the L.A. Times.