As you'll see, whether to bother with a racking is something not everyone agrees about. The convention around here, at least, is generally not to bother. The studies I've seen on the matter suggest that it's not necessary---the off flavors that used to be reported are mostly mythical---but that it does impact the flavor to some degree, even for a moderately short fermentation time. The result was different, and some people preferred one or the other. If you're at all uncertain of your sanitation / low-aeration racking abilities, eschewing a secondary clearing stage would be wise.
Because of how my pipeline works, I usually do rack to a clearing stage. However, this doesn't happen until at least about two weeks after pitching. On most of my ales, the fun stuff is over after 3-4 days, but I still let it sit to finish any quiet fermentation. At that point, I don't usually bother checking the gravity before racking. If you want to rack sooner, I would advise checking to see that it's done or very nearly done.