Favourites brought up to show pace (4)
I believe the answer is:
step
'pace' is the definition.
(I know that pace can be written as step)
'favourites brought up' is the wordplay.
'favourites' becomes 'pets' ('pet' can be a synonym of 'favourite').
'brought up' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up).
'pets' backwards is 'STEP'.
'to show' is the link.
(Other definitions for step that I've seen before include "Tramp" , "Pace for a pest" , "A pace for pets" , "Bit of mashed potato maybe" , "Tread - stage" .)