CATHERINE Dettori stole the limelight from husband Frankie when she rode her first winner on her first ride in public at Newbury.Mrs Dettori, a mother of four, was riding to a carefully-prepared plan on the Barney Curley-trained Cristoforo in the Cantor Odds Charity Sweepstake yesterday.

CATHERINE Dettori stole the limelight from husband Frankie when she rode her first winner on her first ride in public at Newbury.

Mrs Dettori, a mother of four, was riding to a carefully-prepared plan on the Barney Curley-trained Cristoforo in the Cantor Odds Charity Sweepstake yesterday.

The winner went off the 2-1 favourite in a field of 12.

Mrs Dettori bided her time in a race run at a good clip and delivered Cristoforo full of running halfway up the straight before pulling 13 lengths clear of Vandenberghe.

"That's unbelievable, brilliant," she said. "I was terrified about everybody being all around me so I just sat there and asked my horse to keep going.

"I have to admit it's more difficult than I thought, being a jockey, and I have a lot of admiration for Frankie, who made it easy for me.'

Curley heaped praise on Frankie Dettori, whom he said "put quite a bit of time into the job'.

He added: "It was a team effort. I worked Cristoforo on Tuesday and Frankie rode the lead horse in the gallop. This horse is not nearly as good as some of the others in the race, but they went off far too quick and played into our hands.

"It was Catherine's first ride and probably her last. She's been riding out for me and we had a plan and it worked.'

The efforts of all 12 riders earned £47,000 for the Spinal Injuries Association, Retraining of Racehorses and the Amateur Jockeys Association.

Dettori, who had won the sixth race for Henry Cecil on Portrait Of A Lady, summed it up when observing: "It was like a fairytale. I got beaten on my first ever ride and I'm so happy for Catherine.'