A farce, race had to be fixed (7)
I believe the answer is:
charade
'a farce' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'race had to be fixed' is the wordplay.
'to be fixed' indicates an anagram.
'race'+'had'='racehad'
'racehad' anagrammed gives 'CHARADE'.
(Other definitions for charade that I've seen before include "An absurd pretence, or a guessing game" , "Sustained pretence" , "absurd act" , "Travesty, mockery" , "An absurd pretence, could be a game" .)