> from 19th-century horse-racing slang

There's hardly any worse "source" for etymology than that kind of jargon.

> "ringer" was a late nineteenth-century term for a duplicate, usually with implications of dishonesty, ...

Is that it?

> Hope this helps

Not in the slightest, no. If anything it confirms my bias that editors are gullible.

Which, to get back onto topic, would mean to think that the motivation was not exactly what is reported here, but something come a long way.

> There's hardly any worse "source" for etymology than that kind of jargon.

Care to provide attribution links for that claim?

  etymology:'Dead Ringer'

  etymology:'Wringer'

Hope this helps.

I absolutely don't think so, no. Any link is unlikely to help you read and understand my initial comment, seeing that you communicate in bleep bloop

As you are obviously unable to admit that you are incorrect, and are incapable of preforming a basic search,

  it would seem pointless on my part to continue dialog with you.

Hope this helps.

Still doesn't help. Horse back riding is in principle very closely related to ancient warfare, so if anything it supports my point, but new york race tracks with betting and especially cheating being the very topic of your poorly sourced folk etymology is effable.