“Dead heat” is an idiom for a tie in any race, originating from horse racing where the first horse to win a certain number of heats is declared the winner. It can also refer to close competition in other fields and has been used as a title in books and movies.
The phrase “dead heat” is an English idiom for a competition in which two or more competitors are evenly matched. It originated in horse racing but has been used since the late 1900s to refer to a tie in any type of race. Multiple books and movies have used the saying as a title.
“Dead heat” is a technical term that originates in tournaments where the same horses would race multiple times. In horse racing, a heat is the term for a race of any length. The first horse to win a certain number of heats is declared the winner of many races. For most of these, draws do not count, so any contest which ended in a draw was settled as dead heat.
A similar racing term is photo finish. Competitors are sometimes so close that the naked eye can’t tell who crossed the finish line first, so track owners take pictures at the finish line to see who crossed it first. Races that are too close to be told without the image are called photo finishes, because the photograph determines who finishes first.
As technology develops faster cameras and more accurate sensors, ties have become exceedingly rare. If it’s still impossible to tell, even with pictures, then the race is officially dead heat. Occasionally, three horses tie, resulting in a triple tie.
Outside of the racing world, this phrase has come to mean close competition of any kind. This type of dead heat can occur in footraces, swimming matches, and cycling races. In motorsports, an official draw is nearly impossible because electronic transponders register the arrival of each car to the thousandth of a second.
Close political races are also sometimes called dead heats, even if all ties for political office are ultimately broken. In the 2000 US presidential race, George W. Bush and Al Gore were dead heats for the presidency throughout the campaign. Ultimately, both candidates had about 48% of the popular vote, but Bush won by five Electoral College votes.
In popular culture, many novelists and screenwriters have borrowed idiom for a title. Novels with that title include a 1984 mystery by Linda Barnes, a 1996 horror story by Del Stone Jr., a 2007 mystery by Dick Francis, and a 2008 political thriller by Joel C. Rosenberg. Additionally, two movies share the name “Dead Heat,” a 1988 zombie action film starring Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo and a 2002 action comedy starring Kiefer Sutherland.
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