Possible Clues:

• Dickens hero
• Just beat - at the post
• Defeat at the last moment - . . . at the post
• Seed of a pear
• Only just beat
• Backup singer on 'Midnight Train to Georgia'
• Spot in Vegas
• Spot (on card); seed (of fruit)
• Seed's defeat at the last minute
• Seedy when one is up and down, all the same