Riding in the centre and ahead of tough ward (8)

I believe the answer is:

district

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'ward' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'riding in the centre and ahead of tough' is the wordplay.
'in the centre' says to take the centre.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ahead of tough' becomes 'strict' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The centre of 'riding' is 'di'.
'di'+'strict'='DISTRICT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for district that I've seen before include "Locality" , "Precinct, section" , "Area of town/country" , "Area (of a town/city)" , "Area of a town or city" .)

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

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