one-horse race

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

one-horse race (plural one-horse races)

1. (horse racing, informal) A horse race in which a single horse takes such a considerable lead that the other horses are no longer contenders to win.
   • 1927 June 13, “Sport: Again, McAtee”, in Time, retrieved 26 July 2014:

     Since riding Harry Payne Whitney's Whiskery to victory in the Kentucky Derby, Jockey Linus ("Pony") McAtee has twice broken into the news in unconventional fashion. A fortnight ago, he won a one-horse race ("walkover") at Belmont Park, N. Y.

   • 2006 April 16, Bill Finley, “Sinister Minister Joins Baffert's Derby Stable”, in New York Times, retrieved 26 July 2014:

     Sinister Minister . . . kept extending his lead and turned the stretch run into a one-horse race.

2. (idiomatic, by extension) An election campaign or other competitive situation in which only one competitor is entered or in which only one competitor has a realistic chance of winning.
   • 1995 January 19, Andrew Marshall, “Balladur takes first step to presidency”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 26 July 2014:

     Although Mr Balladur is far ahead in the opinion polls, the spring election is far from being a one-horse race.

   • 1998 April 5, Robert D. Hof, “Commentary: JAVA can be a contender—If Sun lets it”, in Businessweek, retrieved 26 July 2014:

     A system for creating software that runs, unaltered, on all sorts of computers and devices . . . could transform the software business in the network era from a one-horse race led by Microsoft to a true contest.

   • 2011 March 13, Shehan Karunatilaka, “How cricket saved Sri Lanka”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 26 July 2014:

     The dominance of the men in yellow over the past decade turned international cricket into a one-horse race.

References

• “one-horse race”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.