He's generally the first to arrive at a race meeting, the last to leave and the jockey who gives the most detailed, sincere and considered post mortems to those who employ him.

And too often for coincidence, he is a winner.

Craig Williams is the ultimate professional in a world where to be anything less can be disastrous.

Four times Melbourne's premier jockey and Australia's most widely-travelled international rider, Williams sacrifices a lot for the job and is rewarded accordingly.

No matter where he rides, Williams is out on the track early with his "going stick" prodding the turf in search of the best ground to aim his mounts at in the race.

At the end of the day he is invariably the last in the jockeys' room checking and cleaning his gear and analysing his work.

It's his fastidious approach to his work, combined with a large dash of ability, that has Williams in line for the ride on Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom when it runs at Royal Ascot in June.

"Racing is a tough industry, nothing comes easily," Williams says.

"You have to work hard, you have to do your homework, pay attention to detail and you need the right people around you."

And, more often than most, it's an attitude that puts the right horse underneath him.

At Rosehill on Saturday Williams rides the New Zealand filly Ruud Awakening in the $3.5 million Golden Slipper Stakes.

It is an engagement that resulted from his success on the filly in New Zealand's richest race, the Karaka Million, in January.

"I thought pretty much straight away after that race that she was good enough for the Slipper," he said.

The choice of Ruud Awakening is nevertheless a bold selection for a jockey who could have ridden the well-performed local runner Criterion.

And it was a choice Williams later endorsed after galloping Ruud Awakening earlier this week.

"She pulled up like she wanted to go around again," he said.

"That's a great thing going into a race like the Slipper."

In his typical style, Williams went through the work in detail, describing the lead horse that took him into his work, how a clod of turf flew back at his filly and how she darted left to avoid it and then right when she almost hit an orange witches hat.

"Then I gave her a squeeze and she really responded and finished off really well," he said.

One aspect of the Slipper Williams had no control over was the barrier.

Ruud Awakening will jump from the outside gate in the 16-runner field and her jockey is working on a solution.

"The barrier is what it is," he said.

"But she's quite versatile and we'll be looking at what we can do to get the best spot we can."

For the jockey who has won major races in England, France, Japan, Germany, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore as well as Australia and New Zealand, formidable obstacles have regularly been met and overcome.

His win on Dunaden from barrier 18 in last year's Caulfield Cup comes to mind.

By the time the field jumps away on Saturday afternoon Williams will have adapted that miracle for Golden Slipper use.

Apart from coping with the wide barrier, Ruud Awakening has the task of becoming the first New Zealander to win the Slipper in its 57-year history.

Williams doesn't accept that notable piece of history will have any bearing on the result.

And among his colleagues there is a view best expressed by another experienced international, Kerrin McEvoy, that Williams is capable of defying tradition.

"Craig Williams can do some special things on the back of a horse," McEvoy said.