Cliff hangs on to give happy McManoman her first winner

Apprentice Faye McManoman had a day to remember at Ripon as she enjoyed her first winner on her seventh ride when partnering Cliff to a narrow victory in the opening 6f handicap on Wednesday evening.

The race, named after Raye Wilkinson, who has done so much for Racing Welfare, was confined to apprentices who had never ridden a winner and, keeping her cool, McManoman pushed her mount out with hands and heel to get home by a head from Cool Strutter.

The winning rider said on At The Races: "It's unbelievable, words can't really describe the feeling. He kept on finding for me, I could hear the others coming but I thought I'd held on. I know him well as I ride him out all the time at home."

McManoman is apprenticed to the winning trainer Nigel Tinkler, whose wife Kim is her jockey coach.

The feature of the market was the plunge on Carlovian, who was making his debut for trainer Mark Walford and was sent off favourite at 5-2 from an early 4-1. He hit a bit of a flat spot, but ran on well to finish third, beaten a head and the same.

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