English in a Minute: Dark Horse

Welcome to English in a Minute! Horses are beautiful animals and can be many different colors. But what could this mean?

Dark Horse

J: Did you watch the film awards show?

A: I cannot believe “A Slug’s New Body” won for Best Children’s Science Movie in a Foreign Language.

J: I didn’t know that was a category.

A: Oh, it was definitely a dark horse. I thought “Cat Camp” would win. Didn’t you?

J: Oh yeah. Of course.

A “dark horse” is someone or something that’s not expected to win. But sometimes, they do! We use dark horse when talking about sports, politics or, as we heard, movie awards.