Idiom
Dark horse
A dark horse is a person or team that few people know about but who unexpectedly does well or wins.
How people use it
Use dark horse for a competitor nobody expected much from, in sports, contests, job searches, awards or talent shows: the dark horse of the tournament. People also call a quiet person a dark horse when they turn out to have a hidden talent (Omar is a dark horse; he plays jazz piano). That second use is especially common in British English. It is informal and usually admiring, not insulting. It has nothing to do with skin color or the color of an actual horse; dark here means unknown.
Examples
- Nobody had heard of the rookie, but she was the dark horse who won the spelling bee.
- Our small bakery was the dark horse in the city's best bread contest.
- Ben is a bit of a dark horse; I had no idea he spoke four languages.
Where it comes from
The phrase comes from horse racing in the 1800s, where a dark horse was one whose form and abilities were little known to bettors. It became popular after Benjamin Disraeli used it in his 1831 novel The Young Duke to describe an unknown horse sweeping to victory. Americans soon applied it to little-known candidates who won nominations, and from there it spread to any surprise contender.
Check yourself
1. A sports writer calls a team the dark horse of the season. What does she mean?
Answer: Few expected much, but they could surprise everyone. A dark horse is a little-known competitor who may do surprisingly well.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: The quiet new hire turned out to be a dark horse and won the design award.. The idiom describes an unexpected success, so the quiet new hire who won fits.
Similar idioms
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