I had taken first place and relaxed (5)
I believe the answer is:
idled
'relaxed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'i had taken' is the wordplay.
'i had' becomes 'i'd' (I'd).
'taken' becomes 'led' (to lead someone somewhere is to take them there).
'id'+'led'='IDLED'
'first place and' acts as a link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for idled that I've seen before include "Loitered" , "(Of an engine) ran slowly out of gear" , "Wasted time" , "was unoccupied" , "relaxed" .)