Walpole, say, in House, ahead of competition (6)
I believe the answer is:
horace
'walpole say' is the definition.
(novelist Horace Walpole is an example)
'house ahead of competition' is the wordplay.
'house' becomes 'ho' (abbreviation for house).
'ahead of' says to put letters next to each other (some letters go in front of others).
'competition' becomes 'race' (race is a kind of competition).
'ho'+'race'='HORACE'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for horace that I've seen before include "Boy's name - Roman poet" , "Is it a chore to read this old Roman poet?" , "Roman poet; -- Walpole" , "Odist" , "Latin ode writer" .)