Short distance seeing favourites upset (4)
I believe the answer is:
step
'short distance' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'favourites upset' is the wordplay.
'favourites' becomes 'pets' ('pet' can be a synonym of 'favourite').
'upset' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'pets' back-to-front is 'STEP'.
'seeing' is the link.
(Other definitions for step that I've seen before include "Measure - pace" , "one stage of flight" , "Tread - stage" , "Set foot down on pest" , "Indian garment" .)