But she is the first to concede her gritty gelding Noel’s Gift faces a tough task to win Saturday’s $500,000 Newhaven Park Country Championships Final (1400m) at Royal Randwick.

Noel’s Gift qualified for the richest event in bush racing when he slogged his way into second behind Cosmologist in almost apocalyptic conditions at Mudgee on February 25.

When the field finally came into view that day the gelding’s distinctive black and white colours could only just be seen scooting along the rails.

Williams didn’t expect much that day either, and while she hopes to be pleasantly surprised come Saturday her gut instinct tells her the gelding has had his little bit of luck.

“I don’t want to sound too negative but I think he will be way outclassed in the final, especially if the track is dry,” she said.

“I thought the same in the heat and then it just rained like we’ve never seen before, but you can’t really expect that to happen again.

“Obviously it’s a big thrill to have a runner in the final, it’s a terrific concept for the bush trainers, but we’ve been looking and saying if he can finish better than 10th and pick up a cheque then he will have done well.

“We had Galaxy Warrior in the race last year and I think this year’s race is even stronger than that. There’s some seriously nice horses in it.”

Group One winning rider Michael Walker will ride the Zariz x Peak Feeling gelding in the final, where he will start from barrier seven.

Williams laughed when asked how she came to get the services of the former Kiwi, now based in Melbourne.

“Grant Buckley has ridden him a few times and rode him in the heat. We were going to put him on again,” she said.

“Then his manager said Grant was going to ride at the provincials on Saturday. He would have a few rides down there so it’s worth his while to do that. We were fine with that, we fully understood, and then the manager said we could have Michael Walker so we’ve picked up a handy replacement.”