KEY POINTS:
David Walsh believes the Ellerslie landscape could be a strong contributing factor in what makes some young, inexperienced horses race erratically on the country's premier racetrack.
The Cambridge jockey is more convinced after 2-year-old Yao's remarkable destruction of his own chances in Saturday's $50,000 Great Northern Foal Stakes, being beaten by only a head after covering 80 per cent of the width of the Ellerslie course proper in the final 400m.
"When horses turn into the home straight at Ellerslie they're faced with a wide expanse.
"When they're doing it for the first time what they see directly ahead is the big rise out of the home straight and I wonder if some don't see themselves running into a hill with nowhere to go.
"It would explain why they try to duck away from it."
You have to stand on the Ellerslie course proper somewhere close to the winning post to appreciate how big the rise is leaving the home straight. Watching it on a television shot from an elevated camera does not give you the perspective.
Whatever caused Hong Kong-owned Yao to destroy his chances, he again proved what a remarkable talent he is.
Had he done everything right on Saturday - as gallant winner Russian Conquest did - he'd have won by six lengths.
Yao's casual mental attitude saw him leave the starting stalls a clear last as he had been at Woodville when winning on debut.
Like Woodville, once he got organised Yao wanted to charge forward, the difference this time being that the horses in front were starting to ease the speed.
"At Woodville when I grabbed him and told him he wasn't going to be allowed to charge when it suited him, the pace went right on because it was only 1100m and he was happy to go at that speed," said Walsh.
"This time over 1400m when I grabbed him the horses in front dropped the speed and started to come back on him.
"He was going to run right into them. When he charged around the outside no one would have been able to stop him - he's just so big and powerful.
"But once he got there he pulled for a little bit, then relaxed, then when he came up to the turn he got off the bit and I thought he was gone. Jacob kicked in front and I thought Yao wasn't going to be in it."
Yao's huge depth of raw talent saw him quickly dash up and pass Jacob, but he started to duck out despite Walsh quickly switching his whip to the left hand.
"The minute he got his head in front he headed for the outside.
"He began going 30 degrees sideways then got to 45 degrees. The further he went the sharper he got.
"Eventually you have to stop riding and straighten or you'd risk the outside fence."
Walsh believes Yao's class is part of his problem.
"Very good horses like him take longer to learn because everything they do is so effortless for them. They work with average horses and just play with them.
"They're never under pressure, so they don't have to concentrate.
"With horses like that, the better the opposition the better they go."
Walsh says Yao reminds him a lot of Courier Bay, an outstanding sprinter on whom he won a lot of major races.
"The similarity is amazing. He used to miss the jump then take off in his races. It took him a long time to get it."
Walsh, not one to overrate horses, believes Yao could be anything.
"He's a definite group one-quality horse. When you get on him and head to the start you feel like you're on a horse going to the start of the Telegraph [group one]."
Yao clearly had no problem with Saturday's 1400m and looked as though 1600m would not be an issue, but Walsh believes his future lies as a sprinter, like his outstanding sire Choisir.
"He'll run 1600m against his own age, they pretty much all do, but when he gets organised you wouldn't know how fast he could run 1200m."
Walsh stayed back from a strong raft of rides at Trentham to take the Yao engagement, missing the winning rides on Sculptor, Lord Monty and Eternal Dancer.
Trainer Murray Baker thought he would now spell Yao with a spring preparation in mind.
