Crossword Genius

Cried encouragement for western jockey at credit centre (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

whooped

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'cried encouragement' is the definition.
'whooped' can be an answer for 'cried' (whooping is a kind of crying). I am unsure of the 'encouragement' bit.

'western jockey at credit centre' is the wordplay.
'western' becomes 'w'.
'jockey at' becomes 'hoop' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'centre' says to take the centre.
The central letters of 'credit' are 'ed'.
'w'+'hoop'+'ed'='WHOOPED'

'for' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for whooped that I've seen is " cried with joy".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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