WHILE it can be rightly said that it has happened before, nowadays it is a rarity to witness a horse winning six consecutive races, especially coming from the claiming level to Overnight company.

Such was the case on Saturday when the five-year-old by gelding Step It Up defeated rivals to win an Overnight Allowance event going over 1,100 metres, beating the fast-finishing Edison (Dane Nelson) in a decent 1:06:4 minutes. All of Step It Up’s other wins this season have come at various levels of claiming.

Trained by Steadman Curtis, the Dayton Flyer – Constant Girl bay gelding now boasts a career record of 10 wins, seven second-place finishes and five third-place finishes from 46 starts for earnings of $3,883,800.

His record this season stands at eight wins (including six in a row), four seconds, three thirds and two times off the board from 17 starts, earning for his connections $2,824,050.

A constant in the performance of Step It Up has been in-form jockey Robert Halledeen, who has developed quite a remarkable relationship with the horse. Halledeen has been on Step It Up for six of his victories. Kudos for the performance of Step It Up resides with the quiet work being done by trainer Curtis who with patience and purpose has guided the career of Step It Up.

While it is still early days yet and a lot can happen before the season ends in December, Step It Up must surely be, at this time, one of the main contenders for Horse of the Year honours.

No horse since January 1 has yet bettered his performances and even given the fact that he is mainly running in the lower ranks of racing, the win in Overnight Allowance gives testimony to his class and resilience.

Many miles to travel, but thus far this is the year of Step It Up.