A little known, unexpectedly successful entrant
Someone who was previously unknown, but suddenly emerges into prominence
Someone who keeps their skills and ideas secret and surprises others by doing something unexpected
A person who wins a race or competition though no one expected them to win
You never can tell, some dark horse many come along and win a House of Lords seat.
Though many favoured the bigger teams to win the competition, the local team was a dark horse, and surprised everyone with their dazzling performances.
Everyone thought that the seasoned campaigner would win the election this time, but the new candidate turned out to be a dark horse and beat him comfortably.
While Dennis is the favourite to win the contest, our own local boy Harris could turn out to be a dark horse with his talent and skills.
No one knew about her earlier, but suddenly she is being seen as the dark horse with such amazing display of her abilities.
A lot of people are saying that she could be the dark horse for winning a medal in the championships.
There is no origin for this idiom
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definition
Common phrase that has a specific meaning.