I shrugged.

"Look at the form. See what the experts reckon. Maybe follow a tip if someone sounds convincing."

Mikhail smiled.

Then he shook his head.

"Yes. This is what everybody does."

He took a sip of his drink.

"And this is why everybody is looking at same information."

I wasn't quite sure what he meant.

But what he said next REALLY got my attention.

"In Russia, Josh, we understand something very important. The most valuable information is information that other people do not have."

I nodded.

Fair enough. Made sense.

But then he leaned a little closer.

"Let me ask you another question."

"Who knows more about a horse? Man reading newspaper in betting shop... or people who work with horse every day?"

"Well, the people working with it, obviously."

"Exactly!"

He smiled, as though I'd just answered the most important question in the world.

"Trainer knows things. Stable workers know things. Owners know things. Sometimes jockey knows things."

He paused.

"And sometimes, Josh, this information travels to people you would NEVER expect."

Now, THAT was interesting.

Because when you think about it, he had a point.

Every day, thousands of people study the same form guides, listen to the same racing pundits and pore over the same statistics.

Yet behind the scenes, there's an entire world of conversations, relationships and information that never reaches the average punter.

But how on earth did this Russian businessman know so much about British horse racing?

So I asked him.

And that's when the conversation took a rather unexpected turn.

Mikhail looked at me for a few seconds.

Then he smiled.

"Josh, what do you know about Russian intelligence?"

I nearly spat out my drink.

"Russian intelligence? You mean the KGB and all that?"

He laughed.

"Something like this."

Then he explained something I'd never really considered before.

For decades, Russian intelligence services had developed extraordinarily sophisticated networks of contacts and informants.

People in positions of influence. People with access to information. People who knew things long before the wider world found out.

And these networks weren't necessarily limited to politics or military secrets.

They could reach into business, finance, sport... practically ANYWHERE.

"Josh," he said, "you English people think information comes from newspaper, television, internet."

He shook his head.

"But sometimes, the really interesting information comes from a telephone call. From a friend of a friend. From somebody who knows somebody."

He smiled.

"And in Russia, we are very good at knowing people."

Now I was absolutely fascinated.