Apprentice Braydn Swaffer remained calm in a difficult situation to ride his first city winner on Saturday.

The 17-year-old won on Running Vixen at the Sunshine Coast despite losing his riding irons soon after the start of the race.

"My foot slipped out of the iron about 50 metres after the start so I kicked the other one out to keep my balance," Swaffer said.

"I tried to stay calm and hold my balance without falling off."

Swaffer never contemplated easing Running Vixen out of the race when he first experienced difficulties.

"She was still travelling well and just because I didn't have any irons didn't mean I had to ease her up," he said.

"I wouldn't say it was my most stylish ride but it worked."

Trainer Trevor Thomas feared the worst when he saw Swaffer become unbalanced in the early stages.

"When she jumped out well I thought `that's good' but then I saw some legs dangling and I thought `that's not good'," Thomas said.

Swaffer has ridden 28 winners in North Queensland where he is apprenticed to trainer Trevor Rowe.

"I'm here for a month on loan to Pat Duff but things are going really well so we'll probably look to extend that to three months," he said.