hiding to nothing

From horse racing, hiding (“beating”); to (“as used to express gambling odds”), e.g., 6 to 1. Literally, the phrase can be described as to bet on a contest whose outcome is at worst a beating, or at best nothing. A heavily favoured team in a sporting contest earns no credit for victory, but is shamed by defeat; this team is said to be on a hiding to nothing.

• "It would have been madness to encourage them to back the mare : in fact I was on a hiding to nothing whatever happened."
• "No legitimate excuse for introduction existed, or could exist, and the odds looked like a hiding to nothing should Bayard attempt to force a meeting […]"
• "It is a nasty situation and DFR knows that he is on a good hiding to nothing. He sometimes feels that he is the least understood and most unloved ATCO in [the UK]"
• "This often makes it a nervous, hiding-to-nothing game in which disasters are so much more memorable than successes"
• "Company directors are on a hiding to nothing when it comes to trusting their reputations to the accounting statements for which they are responsible."