back the wrong horse

Idioms and Phrases

Also, bet on the wrong horse . Guess wrongly or misjudge a future outcome, as in Jones garnered only a few hundred votes; we obviously backed the wrong horse , or Counting on the price of IBM to rise sharply was betting on the wrong horse . Transferred from wagering money on a horse that fails to win the race, a usage dating from the late 1600s, this term is widely applied to elections and other situations of uncertain outcome.