With the primary election just a week off, I've been thinking about how much horse racing and politics have in common.

First of all, both are rich men's games.

You can't enter a horse race or a political contest without at least a couple hundred thousand to burn. And in both games, no one really cares where the seed money came from.

Past performance counts.

In horse racing, handicappers analyze past performances - or "pps" - in the Daily Racing Form. How a horse did at the distance, fared against similar competition and under what conditions it raced are critical in determining how he, she or it might fare on race day.

In politics, past performance matters too.

Take the race for governor. GOP candidate Meg Whitman once gave money to liberal Barbara Boxer. Her opponent, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, tried to soften the all-important Holy Grail that is Prop. 13.

Democrat Jerry Brown, running unopposed for the Democratic nomination, was governor once before and appointed judges to the state Supreme Court that refused to enforce California's death penalty.

Then there's what horse players like to call connections. Sometimes the combination of a horse's owner, trainer, jockey and breeding can give the savvy handicapper a key to its likelihood of winning.

You see a horse in a race born in Kentucky with bloodlines tracing back to Seattle Slew, owned by a rich Saudi and trained by Bob Baffert

with Victor Espinoza aboard - bet the heck out of it.

As for how connections play in politics, when it comes to breeding think Kennedys in Massachusetts or Mountjoys in the San Gabriel Valley. Owners are the parties - each with their own silks. Think red for Republican, blue for Democrat, green for Green.

Just like thoroughbred owners, the parties determine when candidates run, what office they run for and how long they'll stay there.

Trainers are like consultants - think James Carville or Karl Rove. Horses are the platforms; jocks, the candidates. The best know when to hold the reins tight and when to apply the whip in the home stretch.

There's a couple of other things to consider at the races before placing a bet. How a horse looks in the post parade, how it loads into the starting gate and where the late money goes.

A horse in the post parade that sweats like Richard Nixon in a televised debate probably won't do so well. Washy. Throw it out.

When he, she or it gets wild in the starting gate like Bill Clinton around White House interns, there's a good chance he, she or it will tear down the backstretch only to fade at the finish. Throw it out.

Watch the late money. Usually the high-rollers who know something will wait until the very last minute to plunk money on their horse.

Same thing is true in politics. Late money means somebody knows something the rest of us don't.

In the end, horse racing and politics are similar for one very important reason - suckers like me who vote and play the ponies usually get burned at both.

Frank C. Girardot is editor of the Pasadena Star-News and senior metro editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. Visit his blog at www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime.