Down to the Wire

Before photo-finish cameras, judges at horse races strung a thin wire across the track above the finish line to help them determine which horse crossed first when runners were close together. A race that stayed undecided until that wire was reached "went down to the wire." The American magazine Scribner's used the phrase in this literal racing sense in July 1889, describing two horses that "raced down to the 'wire.'" An Australian source, The Southern Argus, has also been cited using a similar racing expression as early as June 1884, which would predate the American citation, though which country's turf-racing culture the wider English idiom ultimately spread from isn't fully settled.