diff --git a/google/cloud/aiplatform/vertex_ray/data.py b/google/cloud/aiplatform/vertex_ray/data.py
index 217eb52106..09d894e4af 100644
--- a/google/cloud/aiplatform/vertex_ray/data.py
+++ b/google/cloud/aiplatform/vertex_ray/data.py
@@ -144,26 +144,30 @@ def write_bigquery(
             By default, concurrency is dynamically decided based on the available
             resources.
     """
-    if ray.__version__ == "2.4.0":
+    version = ray.__version__
+
+    if version == "2.4.0":
         raise RuntimeError(_V2_4_WARNING_MESSAGE)
 
-    elif ray.__version__ in ("2.9.3", "2.33.0", "2.42.0", "2.47.1"):
-        if ray.__version__ == "2.9.3":
+    elif version in ("2.9.3", "2.33.0", "2.42.0", "2.47.1"):
+        if version == "2.9.3":
             warnings.warn(_V2_9_WARNING_MESSAGE, DeprecationWarning, stacklevel=1)
-        if ray_remote_args is None:
-            ray_remote_args = {}
-
-        # Each write task will launch individual remote tasks to write each block
-        # To avoid duplicate block writes, the write task should not be retried
-        if ray_remote_args.get("max_retries", 0) != 0:
-            print(
-                "[Ray on Vertex AI]: The max_retries of a BigQuery Write "
-                "Task should be set to 0 to avoid duplicate writes."
-            )
+        # Avoid dict modification if not needed; assignment needed only when input is None
+        ray_remote_args = {} if ray_remote_args is None else ray_remote_args
+
+        max_retries = ray_remote_args.get("max_retries")
+        if max_retries is not None:
+            if max_retries != 0:
+                print(
+                    "[Ray on Vertex AI]: The max_retries of a BigQuery Write "
+                    "Task should be set to 0 to avoid duplicate writes."
+                )
         else:
+            # Only assign if it wasn't present in the input mapping
             ray_remote_args["max_retries"] = 0
 
-        if ray.__version__ == "2.9.3":
+        # Avoid lookups, also, no need to re-check version set membership
+        if version == "2.9.3":
             # Concurrency and overwrite_table are not supported in 2.9.3
             datasink = _BigQueryDatasink(
                 project_id=project_id,
@@ -174,7 +178,7 @@ def write_bigquery(
                 datasink=datasink,
                 ray_remote_args=ray_remote_args,
             )
-        elif ray.__version__ in ("2.33.0", "2.42.0", "2.47.1"):
+        else:
             datasink = _BigQueryDatasink(
                 project_id=project_id,
                 dataset=dataset,
@@ -188,6 +192,6 @@ def write_bigquery(
             )
     else:
         raise ImportError(
-            f"[Ray on Vertex AI]: Unsupported version {ray.__version__}."
+            f"[Ray on Vertex AI]: Unsupported version {version}."
             + "Only 2.47.1, 2.42.0, 2.33.0 and 2.9.3 are supported."
         )