Trying to generate new fans could be worthwhile resolution

I suspect I will go to my grave firmly believing that lots of people like horse racing but don’t know about it yet. I guess you could call that being an eternal optimist.

For example, on Sunday I was listening to an NFL game on radio. On a long touchdown run, announcer Wayne Larrivee screamed, “He’s running away from them like Secretariat.” I kid you not.

On closing weekend at Hollywood Park, TVG showed Barbra Streisand, the most reclusive superstar since Greta Garbo, sitting in an owner’s box with husband James Brolin.

When things like this happen, I see hope — that there are seeds of interest planted in people’s brains that need to be nurtured, that the cup is half full and not half empty.

If you haven’t made a New Year’s resolution yet and like horse racing, try this simple one: Generate one new fan in 2010.

That is the public grabbing the bull by the horns and not waiting for the alphabet soup of racing organizations to finally act. A bottom-up, grass-roots campaign empowers the fans and not the high-priced suits.

• MORE HORSE OF THE YEAR — Considering all the e-mails I received on my split Horse of the Year vote last week, more explanation is required.

Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta executed to perfection the goals their connections set out to do. The fact is the goals of the two horses were completely different, making a valid comparison an apples-to-oranges dichotomy.

The main knock on Zenyatta is she never left Southern California to race. With the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, why should she have left? Trainer John Shirreffs, working backward from the Breeders’ Cup, mapped out a plan that allowed her to run the race of her life to win the Classic.

As for Rachel Alexandra, her campaign was based upon historic challenges highlighted by three wins over male horses in the Preakness, Haskell and Woodward. Someday her undefeated year, including five Grade 1 and two Grade 2 wins, will go down as the best season ever by a 3-year-old filly.

Good luck in splitting these two.

• PHILLY PARK — Beginning today, Philadelphia Park will join the Nevada daily simulcast roster. That’s good news. In December, the racing cards at Philly offered better betting than what I saw at Hollywood Park. My favorite Philly jockey to play is Kendrick Carmouche, a talented, up-and-coming young rider.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.