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By Ray Hickson

How the first 300m or so pans out for consistent mare Helga will be key to her chances of converting a slashing first-up effort into a second-up win at Randwick on Saturday.

Apprentice Chris Williams (Pic: Steve Hart)

That’s the view of apprentice Chris Williams and he says it’s up to him to get that part of the Schweppes Handicap (1500m) right because everything about the mare's return told Williams she’s come back in superb order.

Punter’s Intelligence sectional data best explains the Les Bridge-trained four-year-old’s closing third behind Aquitaine over 1200m two weeks ago – her last 600m of 34.07 was over three lengths faster than her rivals and her last 200m of 11.17 was a length faster, and she achieved that conceding a start and covering the most ground in the race.

Williams said he expects Helga to race closer with the step up in distance and therein lies his challenge.

“The boss is a little worried about the 1500m but with a bit of luck we can save a bit of energy in behind the speed,’’ Williams said.

“Her normal racing pattern is to lead or be just off the speed and we’ll see how they jump.

“She does jump well so stepping up in distance she’ll be very handy, hopefully third or fourth, but it wouldn’t be ideal to be outside the leader.’’

That’s because Helga went into her first-up run a little underdone.

It was the first time since her first race start she’d kicked off a preparation at less than 1250m so Bridge has left plenty of improvement in her.

“She only had the one trial going into that race, normally the boss gives her two,’’ Williams said.

“She was doing quite well, we thought it’d be short for her and we were hoping she’d come back and hit the line nicely and show us she’s on the right track.

“It was a huge run and we were pretty happy with how she came through it.’’

Helga was on the third line of betting with TAB at $6.50 on Thursday and Williams said her work this week has proven to him she has come along in the past couple of weeks.

The 28-year-old, originally from near Bourke, is among a number of jockeys to have pledged a donation to the bushfire relief from each winner this month so he’s keen to part with as many units of $200 as possible.

He rode five city winners in December and would be rapt to match that at least in the month of January.

Williams has five rides at Randwick including the in-form Passage Of Time ($6, Bisley Workwear), Zardoro ($7, TAB Highway), Showminder ($11, TAB Venue Mode) plus Tahsin ($21) to wind up the program.

Helga runs third at Randwick on December 28

“As soon as I put the post up (about donating) I’ve been running seconds and thirds, it’s been a bit frustrating,’’ he said.

“It’s a cause that everyone is getting behind. My family back home has been hit hard with the drought but I can only imagine what it’s like to lose your place altogether.’’

The Joe Pride-trained Passage Of Time will be lumping 62kg after Williams’ claim in the Bisley Workwear Handicap (1200m) but with a 55kg limit it’s not as big an ask as it looks.

The gelding was an all the way winner under Williams over 1400m at Randwick on December 21 and did win with 60kg and 60.5kg back in June.

“I’m confident he can run a good race, there are a couple of horses there that go all right but he’s a big boy and I’m sure he can handle it,’’ he said.

“He’s drawn well, it’s a nice roomy track and he will get his chance.’’

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Randwick meeting