Mangan is 37 and at Tattersall’s Park in Hobart on Sunday she rode her first winner as a professional rider.
She partnered four-year-old mare Enshroud to an all-the-way win in a maiden over 1100 metres.
Despite feeling the pinch close to home the mare had enough in reserve to hold out On Toast and Vision Of Beauty that flashed home over the concluding stages.
Mangan rode for two seasons as an amateur about 10 years ago and last year she returned to riding as an amateur in Victoria.
She notched about 60 winners from just over 300 rides as an amateur and that form convinced the state’s leading training combination of David and Scott Brinton to give her a chance at riding professionally as an apprentice.
Listen to what apprentice Rhonda Mangan told Tasracing’s Peter Staples in an interview after riding her first winner as a professional – click here .