No connections run their horse with the intention of losing. He was probably only __% cranked as it is a long season and also the trainer was possibly looking for a quotable excuse for losing. Having said that, it is a bit maddening to hear a trainer say "he was only 80% trained up for the race" after the race was run -- but, that is part of the puzzle looking at factors like -- success with layoff horses, quality of the workouts, etc.