If you're managing a horse's career, there's an unwritten but standard procedure for taking the previous results and finding the horse's next start. Specifically, if your horse won its last start, you run it at the same class level or higher next time (presuming the last start was recent). Like all rules and expectations, this one can be constraining, though. You don't want a previous win to be an albatross; a horse's ascending performance opens up the possibility of competing in better races, but it shouldn't consign the horse to those spots. So I like it when I see owners and trainers who flout the standard move.
I'm Steppin' It Up's presence in race 5, a $60,000 overnight stake at Belmont, is such an example. While the race was rained off the turf, he won the $265,000 Kent Stakes last out, and before that he was 3rd in the $300,000 Smarty Jones. Certainly, another rich but accessible race would be ideal, but one presumably isn't available. So I'm Steppin' It Up runs for $60,000, rather than staying on the sidelines. The morning line has him trailing Turbo Compressor and Bold Warrior, so who knows if running him in this race is the percentage move. But I see evidence of the connections thinking, and I like that.
A clarification. Winning a stake race is almost unambiguously good and expands the possibilities for the horse. I should hasten to add that this certainly isn't true for horses who win conditional races. Then the horses move up next time out of necessity. Even with stakes winners, if the horse is early in its career or was a squirrel finding an acorn in the victory, conditions which could be of value go by the boards with the win. And the horse will pay a price later for the win in terms of weight, whether it runs under allowance conditions, or handicap.
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