Writer Christine Honored

Bill Christine, who has been covering horse racing for The Times since 1982, has been awarded an Eclipse Award for writing in the news/commentary category for a story he did on Kayak II.

Christine, who also won an Eclipse in 1984, was honored for an article that appeared on Dec. 24, 2003, about Kayak II and how he was beaten by stablemate Seabiscuit in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap.

Sean Clancy received an honorable mention for a story on Angel Cordero Jr. that appeared in the Daily Racing Form on Aug. 20, 2004, and Tim Layden was cited for a story about Smarty Jones that ran in Sports Illustrated last May.

Eclipse Award finalists in other categories will be announced later this week. The winners will be announced Jan. 24 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.

-- Bob Mieszerski