From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhot favouritehot favouritethe person, team, horse etc that people think is most likely to win → hot
Examples from the Corpus
hot favourite• The hot favourite at 6-4 was Craganour.• Hardy was a hot favourite before the fight and did not let a sell-out crowd down by producing the expected victory.• And you are the hot favourite, bonny lass.• He is hot favourite for a semi-final place. 