Here are two sports idioms from the world of horse racing that have gone beyond the sport. Both contain "down."
When something goes "down to the wire" we mean it goes to the very end or last minute. "The election went down to the wire." The term comes from the length of wire that was once stretched across a racetrack at the finish line. Now, that finish is recorded electronically. The figurative use of the phrase goes back to about 1900.
Outside of horse racing, if someone said "Hands down this is the best pizza I have ever eaten." In that usage, it means unconditionally. It can also be used to mean something done with great ease.
In horse racing, when a jockey wins hands down, it means that the jockey is certain of victory, he or she dropstheir hands and relaxes the hold on the reins. The horse-racing phrase is first cited by OED in 1867, and the figurative usage is noted in 1913.
