Arrive without favourite in race (7)
I believe the answer is:
compete
'race' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to competing as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'arrive without favourite' is the wordplay.
'arrive' becomes 'come' (synonyms).
'without' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'favourite' becomes 'pet' (synonyms).
'come' placed around 'pet' is 'COMPETE'.
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for compete that I've seen before include "Take part in hope of winning" , "Contend (for a prize)" , "Engage in a contest" , "Take part (in race)" , "Struggle for victory" .)