horse race

noun

1. a contest of speed among horses that either are ridden by jockeys or pull sulkies and their drivers.
2. any formidable contest or competition:

   The primary election is expected to be a horse race among four opponents.

Other Words From

• horse racing noun

Example Sentences

Lu likens the needed precision to a horse race where 100 horses run 100 kilometers and finish within a hair’s width of each other.

From Singularity Hub 

Swing states also become less expensive to poll, so those polls have proliferated and continued to feed interest in the horse race in key swing states.

From Time

This election cycle has felt less like a horse race than many past ones.

From Ozy

The record for these quick polls is solid, if the numbers were decisive — there hasn't been much movement in the horse race after debates that voters saw as draws.

From Washington Post

In terms of the horse race, that’s likely to give Democrats a small boost in these states, since Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say they plan to vote by mail this year.

From FiveThirtyEight

The media is going to want a horse race, and it is going to create friction between the base and her record.

From The Daily Beast

Will Zara's horse win Britain's most famous horse race this weekend?

From The Daily Beast

Germond, by the way, was always completely unapologetic about the horse race.

From The Daily Beast

But he always did say, and said to me that day, that "there's smart horse race and dumb horse race," and he was right about that.

From The Daily Beast

When you think about it, this makes sense—why bet on just one horse in a two-horse race?

From The Daily Beast

Like a boil, such a horse race as this must burst some day, and it was reaching the acute stage.

From Project Gutenberg

When I went to a horse-race I used to fasten my mind on the signal, and tried to see beforehand the number of the winner.

From Project Gutenberg

Often when a charge was ordered, a genuine horse-race followed, the swiftest steeds leading the way.

From Project Gutenberg

This day there was great thronging to Banstead Downs, upon a great horse-race and foot-race.

From Project Gutenberg

After the great horse race matters moved along smoothly for some time.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• championship
• clash
• event
• fight
• game
• match
• meeting
• race
• rivalry
• sport
• struggle
• tournament
• trial