That took so long because the transaction was "non-standard" and likely required some "tweaking" of node/mining software to be able to include it... most miners would shy away from doing something like that... "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I would guess because they were nervous about wasting a lot of time/resources and possibly generating an invalid block.
But yes, unless you have an existing deal/contact with a mining pool, trying to sort that out before the original transaction gets confirmed would, I imagine, be somewhat difficult. Also, based on the OPs screenshot showing 75 sat/byte fee... and fees are down around the 20 sats/byte level again, I'd say it's all rather moot... I'm sure the original transaction has already confirmed.
So, the OP is left with the single option of asking (very nicely!) whomever owns the address they sent coins to, to kindly send them back