I wonder if the faith in Willy Mullins’s enthusiastic judgement led backers to overlook the obvious risks, risks that the going increased. Then there was (I think) Pricewise picking out Captain Cody. Last year, the winner, Nick Rockett, was similarly heavily supported generally, but the grounds for that support were far more firmly based in terms of form, ratings and speed.
Am I wrong in thinking that the multiple attempts to get a (fair) start (six or seven?) were more than likely to produce a random result. Townend arrived towards the end of the first grouping, presumably to try to find a good start, but it became anything but straightforward. I did not see what led to him being unseated. I guess that it was out of his hands.
Given the going, there were so many horses which had a real chance and I think that the betting overall did reflect that, with a significant number of runners in a relatively narrow band. The winner was well within that band.