WHILE it can be rightly said that it happened often in the past, nowadays it is a rarity to witness a horse especially in claiming races winning four in a row.

Such was the case on Saturday last when the five-year-old bay gelding Step It Up easily defeated rivals at the $450,000 – $400,000 claiming level. Trained by Steadman Curtis, Step It Up has won two times over the five straight, once going six furlong and on Saturday five and a half furlongs.

The Dayton Flyer – Constant Girl offspring now boasts a record in 2014 of 15 starts with six wins, four second place finishes, three third positions and two times off the board. Step It Up has earned just over $2 million for the season thus far. His lifetime performance chart indicates a career of 44 starts from which he has won eight times, finished second seven times and third five times for earnings of just over $3 million, making this season a defining one for Step It Up.

The horse that has suffered most at the hoofs of Step It Up is Smokin Man. The last

three times Step It Up has won, Smokin Man has finished second.

Another constant in the performances of Step It Up has been jockey Robert Halledeen who seems to have developed quite a relationship with the horse. Halledeen has been on Step It Up on the five occasions he has won this season, knowing what to do at always the right time.

Step It Up has done really well to win four races in succession and acknowledgement must be made of his trainer, the veteran Curtis who with his quiet demeanour has guided his charge to victory after victory; in fact, of Curtis’ seven wins for the season, four have come from Step It Up.