backing the right horse
Supporting the winner
Backing the right horse means supporting the person, idea, or course of action that turns out to be successful.
From horse racing, where bettors who pick the winner profit.
The phrase usually appears in hindsight or speculation: It looks like we backed the right horse with that investment.
The opposite, backing the wrong horse, is equally common.
- betting oddsProbability ratios for wagers
- oddsLikelihood expressed numerically
- safe betLikely winning wager
- sure thingGuaranteed outcome or agreement
- choiceAct of selecting
payoff · discernment · good call · gamble · calculated risk · uncertainty · smart money · inside track · foresight · victory · prediction · reward · intuition · speculation · evaluation · chance · strategy · calculation
backing the right horsebacking the wrong horse
Supporting an unsuccessful choice
throwing good money after bad · going down with the ship · flogging a dead horse · barking up the wrong tree
backing the right horsepoor judgment
bad call · missing the mark · blunder · miscalculation · shortsightedness
backs, backed, backer, backers, backing, backings, backward, backwards, right