A dark horse is a person, in regard to a certain field, sport, political race etc., whose experience and abilities are unknown but who could unexpectedly win or achieve success over others; an unknown and unexpected winner of a race or other contest.
Commonly used in phrases such as:
- A real dark horse
- Dark horse contender
- Emerging as a dark horse
Sentence Examples For Dark Horse
“Having never won a race, she was a dark horse to win the Gold Medal in the 100 meters.”
“…the only fighter missing from the event was dark horse entry Tommy Riordan. Recent revelations that Riordan was not only a United States Marine; but a hero in the Iraq War, has cast an even brighter spotlight…” — Warrior (2011)
“In all my years of racing, I’ve never seen a driver with this much raw talent, but what’s this? Out of nowhere, a dark horse is challenging Gagné. He’s gaining on the pack. And down the front stretch.” — Turbo (2013)
“This year’s dark horse in the state Senate race is Roger Elliot, a former school teacher who has never held public office.”
“Ballots are out. Looks like Terminal Taylor’s got herself a little dark horse competition in the form of the falafel fairy herself.’ — She’s All That (1999)
“So, here it is one more time, the dark horse for this year’s Christmas number one, Christmas Is All Around. Thank you, Billy. After this, the news.” — Love Actually (2003)
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Origin Of Idioim
In horse racing during the 1800’s, the term dark horse originally meant a horse entered into a race about which little was known and was not expected to win. Such a horse was difficult to handicap.
There is a colorful story about the origin of the term, in which a horse trader with a winning racehorse secretly disguised the horse as an ordinary workhorse, resulting in long odds and big betting wins when the horse would unexpectedly win the race. It is also claimed that owners would dye their horses a dark color in order to hide their identity.
The first known use of the term in this context was in Benjamin Disraeli’s novel The Young Duke, from 1831:
“A dark horse which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grandstand in sweeping triumph.”
The term soon began to be applied to unknown political candidates such as James K. Polk, a surprise Democratic nominee from Tenessee who unexpectedly won the 1844 Presidential election.
The Katy Perry Confusion
While the 2013 Katy Perry hit song Dark Horse brought the term back into the pop-culture spotlight, it also created a bit of linguistic confusion. In the song and its accompanying music video, Perry uses “dark horse” to describe someone mysterious, dangerous, or even magical, a “dark” figure in the sinister sense.
However, this is the opposite of the idiom’s true meaning. A dark horse isn’t dangerous or “witchy”; they are simply an unknown underdog. If the song were literally accurate, it would be about a girl in the background who nobody expected to win the guy’s heart, not a powerful queen at the center of attention. Perry’s version confuses “dark” (mysterious/hidden) with “dark” (sinister), whereas the original idiom is purely about being an unobserved contender.
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- Copycat
- Scaredy-Cat
- Play Cat and Mouse
- Look What the Cat Dragged In
- Down the Rabbit Hole
- Beat a Dead Horse
- Monkey Around
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- If Wishes Were Horses
- A Shoo-in
- Rarin’ To Go
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