"what if anything might have been done differently to reduce the potential for breakdown ?"

I have no good suggestions. That was just such a suspicious drop in class I had to mention it. Sometimes horses like this hold together and win a few more races as they decline. Sometimes one of the "super trainers" will turn one around. It just seems to me that this one screamed of problems so loudly, the breakdown was not a shock. The breakdown risk almost had to be somewhat higher than normal.

Perhaps in some ways running horses like this and the drug issue are interrelated. All I can say is something is wrong because lives are at risk on the track.