Recovering from the hardest part of a steeplechase (7,4)

'recovering' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to change as well as being present participle verbs.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'the hardest part of a steeplechase' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
'part' could be 'ti' (ti is a kind of part) and 'ti' is found in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'from' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?