The best horse bettors in the game today must stay one step ahead of the sheriff, the bookie, the ex-wife, sometimes the landlord but most importantly the guys he is competing with, the other bettors.

One way to try to get that edge is to pay strict attention to the intentions of trainers, jockeys and owners after a big stakes win.

There can be clues in quotes that can go a long way to making a future winning bet, or backing off of a prohibitive chalk that could have some holes in him.

Take for instance some words of the connections after races at the Hollywood Fall Festival recently.

When I first burst onto the racing scene I was a wet-behind-the ears 25-year-old kid and remember when trainer Julio Canani had to beg guys in the press box to chip in a claim a horse for him.

How things have changed. He now is known as one of the shrewdest with grass horses and his latest star Hyperbaric has that commodity you can't teach; speed.

He teased a few times in Graded company before winning the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile this year and had the Citation 'Cap in the bag once Tyler Baze was able to coax on the lead with a :48 and change half mile.

For horse bettors, they can glean tons of wisdom from the quotes by Canani as he knows how to read a condition book and past performances.

Canani: " There's wasn't much speed in the race, that's why I passed the Breeders' Cup. My horse came into the race fresh, I think we're going to point him toward the Duty Free in Dubai."

Julio saw that the BC race was not a fit for his charge because there was a plethora of speed in the race and that is where all good handicappers start the process.

As far as pointing for the Duty Free, all this illustrates is that Canani is a man with a plan. The race will go in late March with a $5,000,000 purse and when a trainer can map out a strategy that far down the line, it shows he knows exactly what he is doing.

Another to watch is could be a future superstar.

Habaya took the $100,000 Grade 3 Miesque Stakes at a mile on the grass in only her third career start and those that follow the game have to feel that this filly can be any kind of horse.

Out of a monster dam that banked over $1.6 million as a multiple Grade 1 hero, she is by superstar sire Storm Cat and as they say, 'the world is her oyster'.

Saddled by Neal McLaughlin, brother to program trainer Kiaran, the filly overcame being between horses early, then going wide late to win drawing away.

Her assistant trainer Neal McLaughlin: "She took to the Polytrack at Keeneland and really seemed to train well there. A lot of turf horses take a liking to the synthetic surface. We're going to space out her races a little bit, and we have big goals in mind next summer like the American Oaks. Our main worry was that the mile might be a little short for her because she is really bred to go a mile and an eighth or a mile and a quarter."

First off, bettors have to assume this filly will thrive as the gets more real estate to negotiate. But a future clue to handicapping in general came with McLaughlin's assessment that turf horses love the synthetic, an area that will only become more apparent as the seasons of the synthetic roll on.

Horse bettors have to go through the process of attaining the information of yesterday, to help them win the races of the future.