In politics,a dark-horse candidate is someone who is not well known to the public.
VOA: special.2009.07.12
Sometimes,a dark horse unexpectedly wins an election.
VOA: special.2009.07.12
Sony is also promoting the film to Academy voters as a contender for Best Picture, and the film is probably a very valid darkhorse contender for a nomination.
The third candidate, Michael Badnarik, a computer-programmer from Texas, entered the convention as adarkhorse: unlike the other two hopefuls, he had not even rented a room for his campaign headquarters.