tight race

tight race

1. An athletic contest of speed in which two or more contestants are very close to one another. It has become a very tight race over the past couple of days, as several of the favored cyclists vie for the top spot.
2. A political contest in which two or more of the candidates have good chances of being victorious. Thanks to a late surge in the polls, this election has suddenly turned into quite the tight race.
See also: race, tight
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

tight race

a close race. It was a tight race right up to the final turn when my horse pulled ahead and won easily.
See also: race, tight
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • be nip and tuck
  • spelling bee
  • like a greased pig
  • split the vote
  • pip (someone) at the post
  • pip (someone) to the post
  • pip somebody at/to the post
  • pip someone at the post
  • pip
  • beaten at the post
References in periodicals archive
A jubilant Herbert said: "We knew it would be a tight race on fuel so we ran on a lean setting from the start.
MOTOR SPORT ; Herbert's series slice of luck
Mugabe faces a tight race against Morgan Tsvangiari, whose ruling party, the Movement for Democratic Change, is running on a platform of accountable government and has widespread support in the cities.
Mugabe gets tougher on 'subversives'
(By the way, Minnesota's Paul Wellstone was the only Democratic Senator up for reelection who voted against the welfare bill: He's on top of the right's hit list and is being outspent substantially in a tight race. He's our only dependable voice in the Senate and needs all the support he can get.) A Democratically controlled House would at least block the worst of the GOP's initiatives and thereby exert a brake on Clinton's rightward slide.
The existential dilemma
gressman Mike Bost of Murphysboro, who is in a tight race with Democrat Brendan Kelly, the St.
Trump stumps for Bost Bost: Trump throws support to incumbent
'It's an important win because it's a tight race from No.
EAC, Letran triumph
WASHINGTON - Tight race between Clinton, Sanders in Iowa and Trump pulls ahead in 1st US Presidential balloting - report.
KUNA main news for Saturday, Jan 30, 2016
It's a nice race, a tight race, but at Southwell it's all about who can sustain the gallop."
'He has huge chance from his draw in one'
Sir Menzies, 64, succeeds Charles Kennedy after confounding predictions of a tight race with a convincing victory.
BRITAIN: Not just a safe pair of hands; Campbell pledges to modernise Lib Dems
He said the al-Qaeda leader gave him the edge in a tight race against Democrat rival John Kerry.
BIN LADEN AIDS BUSH
Golf: Sandy Twynholm (Morpeth) and Phil Ridden (City of Newcastle) head a very tight race for top player in the Newcastle and District League.
Tied at top
The Lady Tamaraws' three-set victory over National University, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22, put them at a 7-6 slate and gave them the fifth seed in a tight race for the third and fourth spots in the semifinals.
Exciting times for FEU in tight Final Four race
| ADDIS ABABA, July 16 (KUNA) -- South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected African Union Commission President late on Sunday winning a tight race against incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon.
Dlamini-Zuma elected first female AU Commission head
It looks a tight race with a couple of in-form rivals, but there has been nothing to suggest he has lost any of his ability." Bruce Jackson
Can Camacho veteran strike again? HORSE IN FOCUS..
But it also reveals that Democratic rival John Kerry has been unable to capitalise on those weaknesses The result, six months before theNovember 2 election, is a tight race between a vulnerable incumbent and a challenger who has not yet defined himself,according to the Battleground 2004 poll to be released today.
Presidential election polls
Independent Munster MEP Pat Cox clinched the highest elected post in Europe after an unexpectedly tight race.
PAT IS NEW KING OF EUROPE