Belmont Stakes lexicon, BANNED edition: Let's can the stamina talk

I had so much fun in spring 2010 writing a paean to the terms I wanted banished from the Kentucky Derby lexicon (e.g. "weak crop") that I thought I'd do the same for the Belmont Stakes this year.

If spring is when a young man's fancy turns to love, then Belmont Stakes week is when an old Turf writer's curmudgeonly ways turns to disdain, and Ray Kerrison of the New York Post began the litany on Monday by describing the third jewel of American Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown as "the last surviving pillar of the days when horses were bred and prized for stamina."

Now banned from my Belmont Stakes lexicon (unless used in a quote by someone I'm interviewing for a story) is the word stamina.

Here's a little-known fact by those not in the know: Breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys, etc. rarely prize stamina. The Thoroughbred is about speed. The ability to carry speed over distances isn't stamina, it's speed.

Winning the Belmont Stakes in 2:24 as Secretariat did was not a display of stamina but of speed. Winning the Belmont in 2:31.57 as Drosselmeyer did was not a display of stamina but of attrition. Smarty Jones' loss to Birdstone--a Grade 1 winner at two who went on to win the Travers Stakes--may have hurt Smarty's esteem in the eyes of "stamina" lovers, but is there any doubt that Smarty Jones would have won the 2010 edition of the race by daylight?

Speed wins races, not stamina. The former is measurable: S/he who is faster is speedier. The latter is subjective--a term typically but foolishly assigned to horses who win "distance" races, as if carrying 126 pounds for six furlongs in 1:08 isn't a showcase of stamina.

The Thoroughbred tradition is one of speed, and its greatest races, including the Belmont, are run in that same tradition.