Irish trainer's bargain-buy horse makes racing history as he continues winning streak
Aisling Oscar carved out a little piece of racing folklore at Southwell on Thursday after claiming his eighth consecutive handicap victory.Whilst his previous seven triumphs had all been secured at Newcastle, Kildare trainer Adrian Keatley, who is now based in the UK, turned to Southwell for this record-equalling achievement in the Win £250,000 With BetMGM's Golden Goals Handicap.Snapped up from Ireland for a mere 3,200 guineas, the five-year-old has climbed dramatically from a rating of just 46 to 71 throughout his remarkable winning streak.Partnered by Oisin McSweeney, who had been aboard for two of his victories, he justified favouritism at 3-1 with his closest challenger, Studious, finishing three quarters of a length adrift.The previous horse to string together eight handicap wins was Reg Akehurst's Ballynakelly between 1995 and 1996."It's unbelievable, he's a credit to Adrian, his team at home and to Dan (Astbury) who bought him," McSweeney told Sky Sports Racing."It's fantastic and it doesn't happen every day of the week. It's just great to be a part of it."It probably didn't go as straightforward as we thought, I didn't really want to come all the way across but I had enough horse underneath me to get us all the way to the line."He loves it and he just seems to be thriving."That's his eighth win on the bounce and he's fairly versatile, everything doesn't always have to go his way."He's won from being dropped out, he's been on the pace. All credit to the horse, really."Click here to sign up to our racing newsletter for the latest news and tips from the biggest meets.
