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{{Short description|Previously less known person or thing that emerges to prominence}}
{{Other uses|Dark Horse (disambiguation){{!}}Dark Horse}}
{{Other uses|Dark Horse (disambiguation)}}
'''Dark horse''' is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence, especially in a competition of some sort.<ref>http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/108200.html</ref>
A '''dark horse''' is a previously lesser-known person, team or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a [[competition]] involving multiple rivals,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/108200.html |title=A dark horse |work=The Phrase Finder|date=11 December 2023 }}</ref> that is unlikely to succeed but has a fighting chance,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dark%20horse |title=Dark horse |work=[[Merriam-Webster]]}}</ref> unlike the [[underdog]] who is expected to lose.

The term comes from [[horse racing]] and [[horse betting]] jargon for any new but promising horse. It has since found usage mostly in other [[Sport|sports]], [[sports betting]], and [[sports journalism]] and to lesser extent in nascent [[business]] environments, such as experimental [[technology]] and [[Startup company|startup]] companies.


==Origin==
==Origin==
The term began as horse racing parlance. A dark horse is a race horse that is not known to gamblers and thus is difficult to place betting odds on.
The term began as [[horse racing]] parlance for a race horse that is unknown to gamblers and thus difficult to establish betting odds for.


The earliest-known use of the phrase is in [[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s novel ''The Young Duke'' (1831). Disraeli's protagonist, the Duke of St. James, attends a horse race with a surprise finish: "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."<ref>http://www.trivia-library.com/b/origins-of-sayings-a-dark-horse.htm</ref>
The first known mention of the concept is in [[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s novel ''[[The Young Duke]]'' (1831). Disraeli's protagonist, the Duke of St. James, attends a horse race with a surprise finish: "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."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trivia-library.com/b/origins-of-sayings-a-dark-horse.htm |title=Origins of Sayings - A Dark Horse |publisher=Trivia Library}}</ref>


==Politics==
==Use in the political arena==
{{Excessive examples|section|date=March 2023}}
The term has been used politically in such countries as [[Peru]], [[Philippines]] and [[United States]].
The concept has been used in political contexts in such countries as [[Iran]],<ref name=rfl2013>{{cite news|title=Who Will Be Iran's Next President?|url=http://www.rferl.org/media/photogallery/24815015.html|access-date=19 April 2013|newspaper=Radio Free Liberty|date=6 January 2013}}</ref> [[Philippines]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2011/11/17/invest-in-philippines-the-dark-horse-of-asia-expert.html |title=Invest in Philippines, the 'Dark Horse' of Asia |work=CNBC |date=17 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523202104/http://www.cnbc.com/id/45333518/Invest_in_Philippines_the_Dark_Horse_of_Asia_Expert |archive-date=2013-05-23 }}</ref> [[Russia]],<ref name=tik22may>{{cite news|last=Tikhomirov|first=Vladimir|title=Putin names a technocrat Cabinet|url=http://fincake.ru/stock/reviews/115832/download/114541|access-date=28 March 2013|newspaper=Equity|date=22 May 2012}}</ref> [[Egypt]], [[Finland]],<ref>{{cite book | title = From Grand Duchy to a Modern State: A Political History of Finland Since 1809 | first1 = Osmo | last1 = Jussila | first2 = Seppo | last2 = Hentilä | first3 = Jukka | last3 = Nevakivi | date = 1999 | publisher = C. Hurst & Co (Publishers) Ltd.}}</ref> [[Canada]],<ref>{{cite web|url = http://thedarkhorse.report/about/|website = The Dark Horse Report|access-date = 18 February 2016|title = About|archive-date = 20 August 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180820235056/http://thedarkhorse.report/about/|url-status = dead}}</ref> the [[United Kingdom]],<ref name="Gauja2017">{{cite book|first=Anika|last=Gauja|title=Party Reform: The Causes, Challenges, and Consequences of Organizational Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MlLDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA184|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-871716-4|page=184}}</ref> and the [[United States]].


Politically, the term reached [[United States|America]] in the nineteenth century when it was first applied to [[James K. Polk]], a relatively unknown Tennessee Democrat who won the Democratic Party's 1844 presidential nomination over a host of better-known candidates. Polk won the nomination on the ninth ballot, and went on to win the [[United States presidential election, 1844|presidential election]].
Politically, the concept came to the [[United States]] in the nineteenth century when it was first applied to [[James K. Polk]], a relatively unknown [[Tennessee]] politician who won the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s 1844 presidential nomination over a host of better-known candidates. Polk won the nomination on the ninth ballot at [[1844 Democratic National Convention|his party's national nominating convention]], and [[1844 United States presidential election|went on to become the country's eleventh president]].


Other famous dark horse candidates for the [[United States]] [[President of the United States|presidency]] include:
Other successful dark horse candidates for the [[United States]] [[President of the United States|presidency]] include:
* [[Franklin Pierce]], chosen as the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee and later [[United States presidential election, 1852|elected]] the 14th president in 1852
* [[Franklin Pierce]], chosen as the Democratic nominee and later [[1852 United States presidential election|elected]] the fourteenth president in 1852.
* [[Abraham Lincoln]], chosen as the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee and [[United States presidential election, 1860|elected]] as the 16th president in 1860.
* [[Abraham Lincoln]], chosen as the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee and [[1860 United States presidential election|elected]] as the sixteenth president in 1860.
* [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], [[United States presidential election, 1876|elected]] the 19th president in 1876.
* [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], [[1876 United States presidential election|elected]] the nineteenth president in 1876.
* [[James A. Garfield]], [[1880 United States presidential election|elected]] the twentieth president in 1880; in the beginning of that same year, Garfield was a rising star in the Republican party but had no interest in the presidency and endorsed [[Secretary of the Treasury]] [[John Sherman]]. However, [[1880 Republican National Convention|his party's national nominating convention]] became deadlocked due to a split in the delegates between former Republican president [[Ulysses S. Grant]], Senator [[James G. Blaine]], and Sherman. The party sought a compromise candidate, and they opted to select Garfield over the latter's own objections. Garfield, however, would be [[Assassination of James A. Garfield|assassinated]] just six months into his term.
* [[James A. Garfield]], [[United States presidential election, 1880|elected]] the 20th president in 1880.
* [[Warren G. Harding]], [[United States presidential election, 1920|elected]] the 29th president in 1920 after his surprise [[1920 Republican National Convention|nomination]].
* [[Warren G. Harding]], [[United States Senate|Senator]] from [[Ohio]], [[1920 United States presidential election|elected]] the twenty-ninth president in 1920 after his surprise [[1920 Republican National Convention|nomination]].
*[[Harry S. Truman]], [[Vice President of the United States|Vice-President]] and former Senator from [[Missouri]] and thirty-third president, was virtually unknown to the American people when he succeeded President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1945. Truman was considered a [[lame duck (politics)|lame duck]] President with no chance of winning against the immensely popular Republican nominee and [[New York (state)|New York]] [[Governor of New York|Governor]] [[Thomas E. Dewey]], yet managed to shock the world by emerging victorious in the [[1948 United States presidential election]] &ndash; widely considered one of the biggest upsets in American history.
* [[Jimmy Carter]], former [[Governor of Georgia]] [[1976 United States presidential election|elected]] the thirty-ninth president in 1976; in the beginning of that same year, Carter was relatively unknown outside his home state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] but went on to win the [[Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1976|nomination]] over rivals with more national prominence. At the [[1976 Democratic National Convention]] Carter made a joke of his obscurity beginning his speech saying "My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm running for President."




Perhaps the two most famous unsuccessful dark horse presidential candidates in American history are Democrat [[William Jennings Bryan]], a three-term congressman from [[Nebraska]] nominated on the fifth ballot after impressing the [[1896 Democratic National Convention]] with his famous [[Cross of Gold speech]] (Bryan would go on to receive the Democratic presidential nomination twice more and serve as [[United States Secretary of State]]), and Republican businessman [[Wendell Willkie]], who was nominated on the sixth ballot at the [[1940 Republican National Convention]] despite never having previously held government office and having only joined the party in 1939. U.S. Senator [[Bernie Sanders]] is another classic example of a dark horse candidate, whose grassroots campaign in the [[2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries]] came much closer than initially expected to toppling front-runner [[Hillary Clinton]] for the party's presidential nomination.
Outside of the United States, the term was also applied to [[Alberto Fujimori]], who rose to the Presidency in [[Peru]] and [[Jejomar Binay]], who rose to the Vice Presidency in the [[Philippines]].


In [[Peru]], "dark horse" candidates who won include [[Alberto Fujimori]], who defeated [[Mario Vargas Llosa]] in the [[1990 Peruvian general election|1990 election]], and [[Pedro Castillo]], a previously unknown elementary school teacher, who won the [[2021 Peruvian general election|2021 election]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/16/peru-election-socialist-pedro-castillo-claims-victory-ahead-of-official-result|title = Peru election: Socialist Pedro Castillo claims victory ahead of official result| newspaper=The Guardian |date = 16 June 2021}}</ref> In the United Kingdom, [[Jeremy Corbyn]] was considered a "dark horse" candidate when he ran for the [[2015 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|2015 Labour Party leadership election]]; despite struggling to secure enough nominations from the [[Parliamentary Labour Party]] to stand as a candidate, he won the leadership in a landslide.<ref name="Gauja2017" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/andrew-whitaker-don-t-rule-out-labour-dark-horse-1-3830635 |title=Andrew Whitaker: Don't rule out Labour dark horse |last1=Whitaker |first1=Andrew |date=15 July 2015 |website=[[scotsman.com]] |access-date=14 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/60071 |title=Celebrations as Jeremy Corbyn elected Labour leader with landslide win |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=13 September 2015 |website=[[Green Left Weekly]]|access-date=14 September 2015}}</ref> In Venezuela, then-President of the [[National Assembly (Venezuela)|National Assembly]] [[Juan Guaidó]] was described as "the accidental leader" of the [[Venezuelan opposition]]; he declared himself acting president in 2019, during the [[Venezuelan presidential crisis]].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Herrero|first1=Ana Vanessa|last2=Casey|first2=Nicholas|date=2019-01-22|title=How Juan Guaidó Rose From Being Virtually Unknown to Lead Venezuela's Opposition (Published 2019)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/world/americas/juan-guaido-facts-history-bio.html|access-date=2020-12-26|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Krygier|first1=Rachelle|last2=Sheridan|first2=Mary Beth|last3=Gearan|first3=Anne|title=The accidental leader: How Juan Guaidó became the face of Venezuela's uprising|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-accidental-leader-how-juan-guaido-became-the-face-of-venezuelas-uprising/2019/02/08/3e2651c6-288e-11e9-906e-9d55b6451eb4_story.html|access-date=2020-12-26|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> In Turkey, [[Ekrem İmamoğlu]] was little-known before his victory in the [[June 2019 Istanbul mayoral election|2019 Istanbul mayoral election]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wemaëre |first=Alcyone |date=4 April 2019 |title=Ekrem Imamoglu: From opposition underdog to Istanbul mayor |work=France24 |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20190404-turkey-imamoglu-opposition-underdog-istanbul-mayor |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref> In Iran, [[Masoud Pezeshkian]], a little-known "dark horse" candidate, was allowed to run by the [[Guardian Council]] and won a surprising victory in the second round of the [[2024 Iranian presidential election]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iran presidential election: Who are the frontrunners? |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iran-presidential-election-who-are-the-frontrunners/3257535 |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref>
==Use in film==
The term dark horse is also used outside the political context. Surprising or unlikely nominations for such prizes as the [[Academy Award]] (awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) are referred to as dark horses.


==Use in music==
==Use in sport==
The term has been used in sport to describe teams and athletes who unexpectedly outperformed their expectations in a competition. Examples include the [[Los Angeles Kings]] during the [[2012 Stanley Cup playoffs]] (who placed 1st despite being an 8th-seed entry into the playoffs); [[Bulgaria national football team|Bulgaria]] at the [[1994 FIFA World Cup]]; [[Croatia national football team|Croatia]] at the [[1998 FIFA World Cup]] and [[2018 FIFA World Cup]] (who placed 2nd despite being ranked 20th in the [[FIFA World Rankings]]); and [[Morocco national football team|Morocco]] at the [[2022 FIFA World Cup]] (who placed 4th despite being ranked 23rd in the [[FIFA World Rankings]]).<ref>{{Citation|last=Staff|first=S. I.|title=Croatia has a real shot at winning the World Cup|date=29 June 2018 |url=https://www.si.com/soccer/video/2018/06/29/croatia-dark-horse-world-cup|language=en-us|access-date=2021-07-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Holiga|first=Aleksandar|title=Is Croatia Emerging as a World Cup Dark Horse?|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2069633-is-croatia-emerging-as-a-world-cup-dark-horse|access-date=2021-07-04|website=Bleacher Report|language=en}}</ref>
Guitarist and singer-songwriter [[George Harrison]] was nicknamed the "dark horse" of [[The Beatles]], as his visibility as a songwriter and vocalist increased later in the Beatles' career, particularly on ''[[Abbey Road]]''. Harrison went on to name his solo label [[Dark Horse Records]], and to release both an [[Dark_Horse_(album) | album]] and a [[Dark_Horse_(song) | song]] named Dark Horse.


⚫
==See also==
The blues band [[Savoy Brown]] have been called the "Dark Horse" band before, because how underappreciated they were.
* [[Black swan theory]]

⚫
* [[Stalking horse]]
The rock band [[Nickelback]] released their album ''[[Dark Horse (Nickelback album)|Dark Horse]]'' in 2008.
* [[Underdog]]

The Rapper XV even made a song about himself titled "The Dark Horse" (Freestle), in which he freestyles on a Kanye West Beat.

==Use in publishing==
[[Dark Horse Comics]] is an American comic book publisher.


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist|33em}}


{{James K. Polk|state=collapsed}}
⚫
== See also ==
⚫
*[[Stalking horse]]


[[Category:English idioms]]
[[Category:1830s neologisms]]
[[Category:American political terms]]
[[Category:Benjamin Disraeli]]
[[Category:English-language idioms]]
[[Category:Upsets]]
[[Category:Political terminology of the United States]]
[[Category:Political metaphors referring to people]]
[[Category:Political metaphors referring to people]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to horses]]

[[ka:ბნელი ცხენი]]
[[ru:Тёмная лошадка]]
[[fi:Musta hevonen]]
[[zh:黑马]]

Latest revision as of 21:31, 21 December 2024

For other uses, see Dark Horse (disambiguation).

A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person, team or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals,[1] that is unlikely to succeed but has a fighting chance,[2] unlike the underdog who is expected to lose.

The term comes from horse racing and horse betting jargon for any new but promising horse. It has since found usage mostly in other sports, sports betting, and sports journalism and to lesser extent in nascent business environments, such as experimental technology and startup companies.

Origin

[edit]

The term began as horse racing parlance for a race horse that is unknown to gamblers and thus difficult to establish betting odds for.

The first known mention of the concept is in Benjamin Disraeli's novel The Young Duke (1831). Disraeli's protagonist, the Duke of St. James, attends a horse race with a surprise finish: "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."[3]

Politics

[edit]

The concept has been used in political contexts in such countries as Iran,[4] Philippines,[5] Russia,[6] Egypt, Finland,[7] Canada,[8] the United Kingdom,[9] and the United States.

Politically, the concept came to the United States in the nineteenth century when it was first applied to James K. Polk, a relatively unknown Tennessee politician who won the Democratic Party's 1844 presidential nomination over a host of better-known candidates. Polk won the nomination on the ninth ballot at his party's national nominating convention, and went on to become the country's eleventh president.

Other successful dark horse candidates for the United States presidency include:


Perhaps the two most famous unsuccessful dark horse presidential candidates in American history are Democrat William Jennings Bryan, a three-term congressman from Nebraska nominated on the fifth ballot after impressing the 1896 Democratic National Convention with his famous Cross of Gold speech (Bryan would go on to receive the Democratic presidential nomination twice more and serve as United States Secretary of State), and Republican businessman Wendell Willkie, who was nominated on the sixth ballot at the 1940 Republican National Convention despite never having previously held government office and having only joined the party in 1939. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is another classic example of a dark horse candidate, whose grassroots campaign in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries came much closer than initially expected to toppling front-runner Hillary Clinton for the party's presidential nomination.

In Peru, "dark horse" candidates who won include Alberto Fujimori, who defeated Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 election, and Pedro Castillo, a previously unknown elementary school teacher, who won the 2021 election.[10] In the United Kingdom, Jeremy Corbyn was considered a "dark horse" candidate when he ran for the 2015 Labour Party leadership election; despite struggling to secure enough nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party to stand as a candidate, he won the leadership in a landslide.[9][11][12] In Venezuela, then-President of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó was described as "the accidental leader" of the Venezuelan opposition; he declared himself acting president in 2019, during the Venezuelan presidential crisis.[13][14] In Turkey, Ekrem İmamoğlu was little-known before his victory in the 2019 Istanbul mayoral election.[15] In Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, a little-known "dark horse" candidate, was allowed to run by the Guardian Council and won a surprising victory in the second round of the 2024 Iranian presidential election.[16]

Use in sport

[edit]

The term has been used in sport to describe teams and athletes who unexpectedly outperformed their expectations in a competition. Examples include the Los Angeles Kings during the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs (who placed 1st despite being an 8th-seed entry into the playoffs); Bulgaria at the 1994 FIFA World Cup; Croatia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup (who placed 2nd despite being ranked 20th in the FIFA World Rankings); and Morocco at the 2022 FIFA World Cup (who placed 4th despite being ranked 23rd in the FIFA World Rankings).[17][18]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "A dark horse". The Phrase Finder. 11 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Dark horse". Merriam-Webster.
  3. ^ "Origins of Sayings - A Dark Horse". Trivia Library.
  4. ^ "Who Will Be Iran's Next President?". Radio Free Liberty. 6 January 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Invest in Philippines, the 'Dark Horse' of Asia". CNBC. 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 2013-05-23.
  6. ^ Tikhomirov, Vladimir (22 May 2012). "Putin names a technocrat Cabinet". Equity. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  7. ^ Jussila, Osmo; Hentilä, Seppo; Nevakivi, Jukka (1999). From Grand Duchy to a Modern State: A Political History of Finland Since 1809. C. Hurst & Co (Publishers) Ltd.
  8. ^ "About". The Dark Horse Report. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  9. ^ a b Gauja, Anika (2017). Party Reform: The Causes, Challenges, and Consequences of Organizational Change. Oxford University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-19-871716-4.
  10. ^ "Peru election: Socialist Pedro Castillo claims victory ahead of official result". The Guardian. 16 June 2021.
  11. ^ Whitaker, Andrew (15 July 2015). "Andrew Whitaker: Don't rule out Labour dark horse". scotsman.com. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  12. ^ "Celebrations as Jeremy Corbyn elected Labour leader with landslide win". Green Left Weekly. 13 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  13. ^ Herrero, Ana Vanessa; Casey, Nicholas (2019-01-22). "How Juan Guaidó Rose From Being Virtually Unknown to Lead Venezuela's Opposition (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  14. ^ Krygier, Rachelle; Sheridan, Mary Beth; Gearan, Anne. "The accidental leader: How Juan Guaidó became the face of Venezuela's uprising". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  15. ^ Wemaëre, Alcyone (4 April 2019). "Ekrem Imamoglu: From opposition underdog to Istanbul mayor". France24. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Iran presidential election: Who are the frontrunners?". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2024-07-06.
  17. ^ Staff, S. I. (29 June 2018), Croatia has a real shot at winning the World Cup, retrieved 2021-07-04
  18. ^ Holiga, Aleksandar. "Is Croatia Emerging as a World Cup Dark Horse?". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
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