Time to allay the fears of losing second prize (8)
I believe the answer is:
treasure
'prize' is the definition.
('treasure' can be a synonym of 'prize')
'time to allay the fears of losing second' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't'.
'to allay the fears of' becomes 'reassure' (I've seen this before).
'losing' suggests deleting specific letters.
'second' becomes 's' (common abbreviation).
'reassure' with 's' taken away is 'reasure'.
't'+'reasure'='TREASURE'
(Other definitions for treasure that I've seen before include "Hoard of jewels and money" , "Valued friend" , "Hoarded riches" , "Robert Louis Stevenson novel" , "Set great store by" .)