Sporting contest, seeing people up front run in short pants

I believe the answer is:

horse race

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'short pants' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to natural events as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'sporting contest seeing people up front run in' is the wordplay.
'sporting contest seeing' becomes 'hose' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'people' becomes 'race'.
'up front' says to put letters next to each other.
'run' becomes 'r' (cricket abbreviation).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'hose'+'race'='hoserace'
'hoserace' placed around 'r' is 'HORSE-RACE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.