Hanagan is built of cement but needed to be even harder to make amazing comeback

To understand how Paul Hanagan was feeling here, you need to understand how he was feeling there, first on the ground at Newcastle racecourse and then in the city's hospital.

Back then, he could not have dreamed of riding another Royal Ascot winner. Back then, neither Royal Ascot nor racing even mattered.

Not at first, anyway. There was a while, two days to be precise, when Hanagan feared he may have been paralysed following by far the most serious fall of his career. It was February 2020. Thanks to the help of some marvellous people and his own hard graft, he recovered, returned to the saddle and then enjoyed the biggest success of his career in the Norfolk Stakes.