This is actually a really good point to make. The movie tries to show this but in a maybe too subtle way.
Right after winning the Yayoi Sho, Tachyon feels up her foot and toes. There's a dolly zoom, the droning of the airplane in the background, and the creepy music; she's obviously in her head about her injury. This is also where she states that:
They'll be the ones to do it...
This is where she realizes her injury will stop her from running.
This is the first actual acknowledgement of Tachyon's injury (besides the x-rays on her computer and the golden portrayal of herself shattering; I will focus on the physical / psychological portrayals mostly and less metaphorical).
Right after winning the Satsuki Sho, the camera zooms in again on her foot and it is twitching terribly. Her injury is obvious (at least to the viewer)
This is also the scene where, in response to Pokke stating that she'd become the strongest, Tachyon responds with:
"I'm sure you will. Things often come down to...
Where, because of her injury, she regards herself as "eliminated" and thus out of the picture entirely. Whether she states this because she truly believes it or out of necessity is to be determined (in like a few paragraphs dw dw).
Afterwards, the second breakup scene occurs and we see that Tachyon's foot is bandaged to the point where her shoe falls off and she's not wearing her typical legwear. Importantly, she says these lines:
"Good. This is good. You'll be the ones..."
Interesting how she basically repeats herself, we'll come back to this.
After Jungle Pocket wins the Japanese Derby, we see evidence of Tachyon's injury once again; her ankle cannot stop twitching.
This is also the scene where Tachyon, so excited by Pokke's win says this:
"Marvellous! Such determination, such fighting spirit! Your running has surpassed my expectations! At this rate, you truly will reach it in my place...
Hey it's that line again. The repetition of this statement combined with her only speaking to herself means that she's trying to convince herself that she's okay with it, despite instinctively pushing against it (that's why she's crying). Tachyon realizes that because of her injury, she has been left behind; the others don't need her anymore, they can perform better than she can. Her role and purpose no longer exist.
And she hates that. It tears her up inside; she cannot bear to be unable to run anymore.
(This is also one of the three times we see Tachyon cry in the movie. She cries while running in the Satsuki Sho and as Pokke wins the Japan Cup. This scene in particular is the only time we see her cry from an overwhelmingly negative emotion.)
Despite being another gif of her feet, this one is more psychological than physical. Tachyon, after recovering, is so terribly restless. She doesn't leave the lab, trash is building up all over, and she barely acknowledges Cafe, instead focusing entirely on her studies; studies of Pokke and Cafe of course.
You can even see how she's built a "fortress" of trash around her while poor Cafe is in the back corner sipping coffee by herself. Tachyon pauses asks Cafe a question about her shadow and unpauses the video for about a second before resuming it (waiting for Cafe to respond but she doesn't). When Cafe finally does respond, Tachyon pauses her video a quarter through Cafe's line, showing just how much Tachyon is focused on her work, how much she tries to not care about the outside world, and how deeply this is all affecting her.
Compare this to the silly potion-giving Tachyon of the first half of the movie.
Right before the Japan Cup, we get another look into how Tachyon's doing. Hint: terribly. She's restless again but less in a "leg bounce" way and more in an aching need to get out there and run. As evidenced by the fact that she's looking out the window at other Umamusume training.
(Fine, I'll post a screenshot of that instead of just Tachyon feet)
In the next scene, we see a zoom in of her eyes and then flashes to running of a racetrack. She's consumed by the desire to run, she's not even studying anymore.
We also get another look into Tachyon's lab showing the absolute mountain of trash blocking any and everyone from getting close to her. She's distancing herself from others, notice the lack of Cafe and how Pokke and Tachyon are on the other ends of this wide shot. Not only is this physical distance but emotional as well.
Apologies for the shitty gif. This is Tachyon's reaction to Pokke actually visiting her again. Having isolated herself so much, she's genuinely surprised to see someone even enter her lab; it's the only thing to break her trance-like state.
After Pokke's touching speech about wanting to run again, Tachyon repeats her favourite lie.
"Besides, you have Cafe and Dantsu-kun."
She's hurting so bad but she just can't admit it even when Pokke is here asking her to come train. She doesn't even tell Pokke about her injury, or tell her why she's no longer running.
She doesn't even know... Even after all this time.
But that always stuck out to me, Tachyon never tells anyone about her injury, not ever.
(Tachyon being interviewed after winning the Satsuki Sho, avoiding giving a reason for her retirement)
Why does she not tell anyone? I can understand the press and the public but not even her closest friends and rivals?
I think she's insecure, I think she's afraid of losing them. That's why she's so distraught when they all surpass her and ignore her. That's why she self-isolates, praying and hoping that all the people she's pushed away, come back to her. But even when they do, she does the only thing she knows and pushes them even further away.
She's emotional and irrational but in a completely understandable and relatable way. I recently developed a disability and it is so terribly isolating. The feelings of being abandoned by able-bodied people, by your friends and peers, by everyone around you, is so prevalent that it's hard to not isolate yourself from everything around you. It's hard to not create a self-fulfilling prophecy of your friends abandoning you (by pushing them away).
And, importantly, it's hard to even accept that you're disabled now, that you can't do things as you could just mere days before. Accepting that fact means accepting finality; that this is life now, this is you now.
When Tachyon repeats those lines, she gets more and more distraught; the attempts of forcing herself to be okay with being unable to run fail completely. The truth of her body failing her becomes more and more evident but she refuses to believe it. She refuses it to the point of crying; the famously over-the-top and menacing yet silly, Agnes Tachyon, starts to cry.
I think it'd be neat if they told a story that didn't have an Umamusume run again after an injury but I'm not sure how they would handle it. Even Fuji ran again at the end of the movie. Tachyon's arc wouldn't have been completed if she couldn't run again, Fuji's as well. Would it be "too much" for a sports anime to "move one of its main characters to the sidelines" after an injury? Would that be fair? Would they treat that respectfully? How would that character deal with being an Umamusume, a creature that is "born to run," being unable to run?
Umamusume is, at its core, a sports anime. It avoids focusing too much on the physical effects of disability and instead focuses on the psychological traumas.
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