People who don’t have a horse in the ring

Piers Morgan was interviewing Jay Leno, and they were discussing the January 6 insurrection. Morgan mentioned that “people who don’t have a horse in the ring” and look objectively at a candidate refusing to concede would generally react negatively to that candidate. Here is the interview (malaphor at 10:40):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lkoBcVLUw8

This is a mashup of “don’t have a horse in this race” (no vested interest in the outcome) and “throw your hat in the ring” (enter a contest or take on a challenge). The speaker may have been thinking of horses racing around a ring track. A big thanks to Skip Kennedy for hearing this one and sending it in!