Colt back around western states taking time in principle (3,2,8)
I believe the answer is:
law of averages
'principle' is the definition.
(principle relating to future events)
'colt back around western states taking time' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'around' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is found in the answer.
'western' could be 'w' and 'w' is located in the answer.
'states' could be 'rages' (rage is a kind of state) and 'rages' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for law of averages that I've seen before include "What offers equity" , "Theory of long-term corrective balances" , "Determination of a medial estimate or arithmetic mean" , "Supposition that things even out with time" , "Expectation that events occur as frequently as their odds dictate" .)