bad to beat en · ADJ
Etymology
Compare the phrase "beat badly"; see badly (“very much; to a great degree”).
Meanings
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(archaic, not-comparable, slang) Difficult to beat; sure to succeed.
"But, you see, they know nothing of discipline. If they'd only form reg'lar, and stand firm in a square, they'd be bad to beat, as them dogs of robbers would find."
1861, Anne Bowman, Among the Tartar Tents, Or, The Lost Fathers, page 183:Twenty-one yearling fillies faced the judges, and in this competition Mr. Clark's Silver Queen was an easy first, and with a little more flesh and condition will be bad to beat.
1886, The Breeder's Gazette, page 274: