Another brash, and outlandish statement from me, a student of Chuck Berndt. How can I say such a thing when everybody knows that horse racing is in dire straits today, and for the most part, because it failed to learn anything from Chuck Berndt, in the 70's. How dare I, indeed! But, I was paying attention then, and I still am today.
Nobody was thinking much about saving horse racing back in the 70's when Chuck Berndt, the soft spoken business genius, persuaded Ken Noe to let him teach a school at Calder Race Course. Horse racing was doing pretty well, and it was just the dawn of the current, "hose 'em for worthless information as much as you can", era. Somehow, Chuck won out, and he became the only man in America to attract over 1000 people a day to live seminars at a race track.
For years, Chuck Berndt gave away quality information and taught thousands of people how to play the "game" of horse racing. It was a grand success, the Calder grandstand would practically tilt as people gathered around not just to hear what he had to say, but to have him teach them how the game is played. Chuck turned gamblers into horseplayers, and handicappers into analysts, all of them learning to play the game of horse racing from a master. He did it all with the kind of success that is totally unknown to handicappers that simply re-arrange the morning line to sell newspapers.
Thousands came, and thousands learned, even in the wilting south Florida heat of summer, an average of 15,000 would gather at Calder to play the horses. Chuck had done it again, the marketing genius that had him owning three auto dealerships at the age of 23, was working full steam for the game he loved with a passion.
But, then the "powers that be" realized that Chuck was the worst newspaper salesman that they had ever had. Instead of telling people that they had to handicap, and they had to buy a DRF, Chuck was telling them, "the handicapping is already done." And, then proved it every afternoon with his analysis of that handicapping.
Not only that, through his demonstration of race day analysis, he was teaching them all of the simple ways to play the game, things that made it enjoyable and fun, without getting the extra $10 bucks for information. On top of that, he was saying things about the chosen ones, the book writers, like, "they can't help it, they just don't know." It took years for management to figure it out, but once they realized that the extra $10 was not being extracted, the early era of player education was over.
Chuck Berndt conducted his classes privately for another 19 years. The fee was $395 in 1981, I say today that it was the best $395 I ever spent for horse racing information, because the point of it all was, anybody can play this game, and, the handicapping IS already done. Everything I have done in horse racing has been an expansion and continuation of the work started by Chuck Berndt.
There were two 12 hour classes conducted in February, and for the rest of the year Chuck earned a fine income following the NY circuit including Gulfstream and Hialeah in the winter months. For over 50 years Chuck made his money at the windows, and taught thousands of others how to play the game. Chuck Berndt passed away at 85 on May 15th, 2010. I always have, and still get email from people asking about him from this page on my website, http://HorsePlayerU.com/aboutme.htm
This is why I say that everything I have done in horse racing is an expansion and continuation of what this man learned and taught others. I have experienced the same cold-shoulder by the information industry, and I remember Chuck telling me in 2009, "I don't care if you have the best ratings ever, they will never let you in their club." So far, this has remained true. But, today I realize that if I can't crash the club, Chuck will never make it either. He has already saved horse racing. The problem is that I am the only one that knows that.
In my attempts to promote horse racing to regular folks, and to make a thankful attempt at re-instating what this man started. I suggested to Keeneland, in 2008, that they should actively teach people how to play this game. Apparently, they liked the idea enough to get with NTRA, and DRF, to sponsor something they call Night School, staffed with some great newspaper sales people, to dazzle and confuse you with a baffling course on past performance handicapping. I see nothing about how to play the game. Too bad for horse racing.
The real kicker is that Chuck Berndt not only saved horse racing back in the 1970's, back then, he also layed out for all of us what to do now to save horse racing in 2011. Join me, in my attempt to implement the plan here in the 21st century. In 2008, Chuck told me that if I have the best rating of ability that horse racing has ever seen, then I should give it away. Join me at HorsePlayerU.com, so that I can give it to you. It's all about playing the game successfully.
Chuck Berndt was a brilliant analyst. I came from a family that followed the horses. My father taught me to handicap and we happened upon Chuck at Aqueduct one summer where he was explaining about "muscle overextension" and how to watch where the smart money was being played. I learned a lot from Chuck and agree that he did much for the sport.
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