Hedge a market, struggling to succeed (4,3,5)
I believe the answer is:
make the grade
'succeed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hedge a market struggling' is the wordplay.
'struggling' indicates anagramming the letters.
'hedge'+'a'+'market'='hedgeamarket'
'hedgeamarket' anagrammed gives 'MAKE THE GRADE'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for make the grade that I've seen before include "Come up to scratch" , "Reach the desired standard" , "Succeed" .)