The same issues that trouble this year’s 3-year-old male division – the lack of a definitive divisional leader, even after the Triple Crown, and a disproportionate reliance on a handful of stakes in the second half of the season to sort things out – also affect this year’s older dirt male division. While some might say there is nothing new about this, at least last year – a year where the older dirt male division lacked depth so much that Gun Runner was a divisional Eclipse Award finalist despite retiring after winning the Pegasus World Cup in January (January!) – we had Accelerate. At least Accelerate had won two Grade 1 races by this point last year (the Santa Anita Handicap and the Gold Cup at Santa Anita) and would go on to win three more to be a thoroughly deserving older dirt male champion. This year, City of Light set the standard in the older dirt male division with a powerful, if bias-aided, win in the slop in the Pegasus World Cup in late January. And then, like Gun Runner the year before, he retired to stud. We are now in mid-June, and City of Light’s Pegasus remains the best performance by an older dirt male in the U.S. this year, and by a clear margin. I suppose McKinzie is probably the best active older dirt male right now. Right here, let me say I have considerable respect for McKinzie. I think he’s a terrific horse and believe he was brutally unlucky not to have won the Met Mile (the strongest dirt race run in the U.S. this year, which is not to be confused with the strongest performance in a dirt race this year by City of Light in his Pegasus; they are two distinctly different things). However, while McKinzie is a grand total of only 1 1/4 lengths from being 4 for 4 this year, the fact remains that he is actually only 1 for 4 this year. And McKinzie’s one victory, albeit a smashing performance, didn’t even occur in a Grade 1 race. It came in the Grade 2 Alysheba. Beyond McKinzie, other notable active members of the older dirt male division include Mitole, Catholic Boy, and Catalina Cruiser. Mitole won the Grade 1 Met Mile, but that mile sure seemed like it was about as far as he wants to go. Catholic Boy made a splash going from turf to dirt to dominate last year’s Travers, and his subsequent loss in the Breeders’ Cup Classic is a total throw-out as he was eliminated at the start. Catholic Boy will be looking to make another turf-to-dirt splash after winning the Dixie in his recent 4-year-old bow. But he has to go out and actually do it. It’s not an absolute given that he will succeed again and become a major player in the older dirt male division. Catalina Cruiser was good in winning the True North in against-the-bias fashion in his recent 2019 bow, and he’s an intriguing figure in this division. That said, as talented and as stoutly bred (by Union Rags and from a Mineshaft mare) as he is, Catalina Cruiser is a 5-year-old who has raced just six times and has competed at a distance as far as 1 1/16 miles only once. So, he has to stay on the track and show he can indeed stretch out. Gift Box has also been a prominent figure in the older dirt male division this year, mainly because of his nose decision over McKinzie in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. But the results for Gift Box in his two starts since haven’t been as good. Even though Gift Box finished a close second in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, he had no business losing as the 3-5 favorite. And Gift Box took a decided step backward in Saturday night’s Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. He finished a soundly beaten fourth, never seriously threatening in a performance that brings into question the strength of the form of the Gold Cup at Santa Anita and, yes, the form of the Big Cap. Seeking the Soul outfinished Quip to win the Foster and continue this year’s trend of different winners in important dirt races for older males. But while Seeking the Soul was yet another different such winner, he is by no means an unfamiliar face. He won the Grade 1 Clark in 2017. And, among other efforts, he finished second to City of Light in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, a race he ran in only because he couldn’t get into the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Seeking the Soul doesn’t have to worry about such matters this year. The Foster was a Win and You’re In race for the Classic. The one thing about Seeking the Soul is that even though he was a game, against-the-speed-bias second to City of Light in the Pegasus, he does seem to do his best work on Churchill’s main track. That puts a bit of a damper on Seeking the Soul’s prospects in view of the stakes schedule as it is presently constructed. • The Fleur de Lis Stakes, run immediately before the Foster and a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, was a terrific race, with Elate getting the best of Blue Prize and She’s a Julie in the late stages. She’s a Julie won the Grade 1 La Troienne in her last start and is vastly improved this year, and Blue Prize was back to her Grade 1 Spinster-winning form in her second start back off a layoff. But Elate has been of championship caliber since she was 3 in 2017. That year, she was an Eclipse Award finalist, won the Grade 1 Alabama and Grade 1 Beldame, and probably should have been placed first in the Grade 1 CCA Oaks when impeded and narrowly beaten by Abel Tasman, who won that championship. As good as Elate can be, she already has two losses this year to older dirt female leader Midnight Bisou. However, both of those losses (in the Azeri and Apple Blossom) were in 1 1/16-mile races, a distance at which Midnight Bisou is 8 for 8. Nine furlongs and up is Elate’s wheelhouse, but Midnight Bisou is 0 for 4 in that territory. Things might get very interesting between these two over the summer and fall. • We’ve been fooled by winners of the Matt Winn Stakes before. Of course, Gun Runner won that race in 2016 and went on to be Horse of the Year. But often what you see in the Winn isn’t what you get down the road. This comes to mind because Mr. Money was very impressive in winning Saturday night’s Winn on the Foster undercard. He didn’t beat a strong field, but he did it the right way – by 6 1/2 commanding lengths – for his second straight romping stakes score. Mr. Money also dominated in the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard. I’m trying to resist the temptation of even harmless speculation, but what if Mr. Money wins, say, the Haskell? In view of how well he ran in the Winn, why can’t Mr. Money come back and win the Haskell? And if he does, given the state of the 3-year-old male division, that would, out of almost nowhere, make Mr. Money a major player in his division. It could happen.