Short races some hope to hold? (5)
I believe the answer is:
ratty
'short' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'races some hope to hold?' is the wordplay.
'races' becomes 'tt' (Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races).
'some hope' becomes 'ray' (as in a ray of hope).
'to hold?' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'tt' placed into 'ray' is 'RATTY'.
(Other definitions for ratty that I've seen before include "infestation of vermin" , "Bad-tempered, irritable as a rodent" , "Fictional mole's chum" , "with pests" , "In a bad temper" .)