Well, maybe things don’t just happen without plausible explanation.
Here is what Paul Rooney had to say:
Rooney, who watched the race on television, felt the area where Starchitect broke down – an intersection of Cheltenham’s old and new courses – was softer and more churned up than the rest of the track the six-year-old had been running on.
“Jason went to the area and investigated straight afterwards and it’s where the track goes off to the cross-country course, so the ground was churned and softer there,” he said.
“If he’d been a few yards further out he probably would have avoided it. I think the view is it’s unfortunate. He was running on good to soft ground and then suddenly it went really soft and he slipped.”