'It's pressure, stress - how do you find the next Galopin Des Champs?' Meet the man tasked with unearthing Willie Mullins' superstars

If you heard that Harold Kirk only got three hours sleep following the Friday of the Cheltenham Festival, you might assume he’d been out toasting his many triumphs into the wee small hours. And after sourcing seven of Willie Mullins’ ten winners at this year’s meeting, who could blame him. 

Instead, the man tasked with finding fresh talent for the Closutton machine headed back from the Cotswolds, spent a brief spell at home in Belfast before dashing to Dublin for the 6am flight to France ahead of racing at Auteuil. There’s no rest for the wicked. Or Mullins’ bloodstock agent, it seems. 

For some, seven Festival winners in a single year would rate a career-defining week. But such are the standards that Mullins instills in his team – and Kirk stresses that he is merely a cog in the wheel – the talent scout’s first reflection is how that tally could so easily have been higher.