David Mullins: 'I gave my leg a little kick, just to make sure I could feel it'

As the racing world waited with bated breath, David Mullins lay stricken on the floor gasping for oxygen.

"When I hit the ground I knew there was something wrong," he recalls. "I could feel the horse kicking me and he was half on top of me as well. I was badly winded – that's what happens when you break a vertebra – and I was just waiting for him to get up.

"I rolled over a small bit to try to get away from the horse, and when I did that I gave my leg a little kick, just to make sure I could feel it, and I could. After that, all I wanted was painkillers."