DONALD McCain’s Saturday went from despair to elation in the space of fewer than 30 seconds, as William Of Orange emerged from a chaotic finish to claim victory in the William Hill Cumbria Crystal Cup at Cartmel.

As the field approach the final flight of the £25,000, 2m 6f feature race at the South Lakes venue, the McCain-trained Volcanic and jockey Brian Hughes were leading the way – only for the 3/1 favourite to take a tumble, causing the rest to take evasive action.

The Chester-based handler thought that was his chance of victory gone, but Volcanic’s stablemate, under Lorcan Murtagh, steered clear of the trouble and went head-to-head with Uptown Funk (7/2) down the finish straight.

It needed a photo finish to separate them, but after what seemed like an age, William Of Orange was confirmed as winner by a nose at 14/1, much to the delight of McCain – who confirmed both Volcanic and Hughes were okay after their fall.

“Brian thought he had the race won and the others were staying on, but he'd have kept galloping,” said McCain, reflecting on events in the closing stages. “But this horse (William Of Orange), he's his own man.

“We left the blinkers off him and I said to Lorcan 'make sure you get him away and sit him wherever he is'. He's a talented horse, he just has good days and bad days.

“I thought we were a stride short of getting there, but to be honest I was watching the other horse getting up then saw him finishing.”

Twelve months ago, Cartmel trainer James Moffatt and jockey Charlotte Jones had been celebrating victory in this race with Altruism. However, their entrant this year, Wood Breizh, was pulled up after being among the early leaders.

There was little joy for Moffatt in the 2m 1f Banks Lyon Jewellers Lady Riders’ Handicap Hurdle either, with the best-placed of his four entrants being Dodgybingo – ridden by Lucy Alexander – coming sixth lengths behind the front two in third.

Instead, it was amateur jockey Jodie Hughes who was celebrating victory with the £5,000 diamond pendant presented to the winner by the sponsors, after steering the Peter Bowen-trained 11/4 favourite Wells De Lune home one-and-a-quarter lengths in front of Innocent Touch, ridden by Alice Stevens.

“I've ridden in this race quite a few times and always watched somebody else winning the beautiful necklace, and now it's my turn,” said Hughes, whose previous best finish in this race was sixth.

“I ride out for Peter Bowen, I know his horses are really fit and I wouldn't want to ride for anyone else in these kind of races.

“Coming here, I could see he was favourite or joint-favourite and he'd won here three weeks ago.”

That was the second of two wins on the day for Welsh trainer Bowen, who had a 30 per cent strike rate at Cartmel heading into this meeting. The other came in the opening race of the day, courtesy of Richard Johnson.

The 2m 6f Cartmel Lodge Park Novice Stakes came down to a straight shootout between Johnson’s mount Mac Tottie and Ofcourseiwill, trained by McCain and ridden by Hughes, with the former getting up in the closing stages to win by half-a-length.

It provided a bit of extra cheer for the three-time National Hunt Champion Jockey as well, who was celebrating his 41st birthday and still feels at the top of his game.

“I try to forget about birthdays now," joked Johnson, adding: "I'm very lucky.

“When you're riding nice horses – I'd love to do this forever, but I think I'm as fit now as I've been for a long time. You learn to manage it better and when you've got horses to ride like I have, it makes the job very easy.”

There was a rare appearance at Cartmel for Swarthmoor conditional jockey Paddy Cowley in the 2m 1 1/2f McGuinness Feeds Handicap Chase on Laura Morgan’s Alys Rock, although they could only finish fourth after disputing the lead. Instead, victory went to 14/1 shot My Renaissance, ridden by Jonathan England.

Elsewhere on the card, the Simon Rogan Handicap Chase saw Grant Cockburn and Bambi Du Noyer (11/4) finish 14 lengths clear of the field, while Hermanus (11/2), ridden by Becky Smith, claimed her first victory over hurdles in the Hadwins Motor Group Mares Hurdle to qualify for the Northern Lights event at Carlisle.

The Furness Fish and Game Handicap Chase was won by Dun Faw Good (9/1) and jockey Craig Nichol, in which Oriental Fixer refused to race but was deemed by the stewards to have started, leaving his backers out of pocket.