ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey Quincy Welch has been named the 2015 recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award.

Welch, a six-time leading rider at Northlands Park in Edmonton, captured the 2007 Alberta Derby on Amazin Blue. The native of Barbados has won 1,855 races in North America.

The Gomez award is given annually to a Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or regular rider in the country for at least five years who has made significant contributions to the sport. Welch will be presented with the award on Woodbine Oaks Day, June 14, at Woodbine.

Dual classic winner American Pharoah, seeking to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978, will stand at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky., upon his retirement, owner Ahmed Zayat said Wednesday morning.

American Pharoah, a son of Pioneerof the Nile, races as a homebred for Zayat Stables. Zayat said Tuesday evening that he will retain management of the colt through the end of his 3-year-old campaign, and that the colt would continue to race in his colors.

American Pharoah breaks for the lead along the rail as Firing Line stumbles coming out of the gate.

Mr. Z pushes American Pharoah early as the two battle for the lead heading toward the clubhouse turn.

American Pharoah beat 17 rivals in the Kentucky Derby, just seven showed up to futilely challenge him last Saturday in the Preakness, and it looks as if he’ll have about 10 opponents in the June 6 Belmont Stakes when he attempts to become the first horse to sweep the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.

BALTIMORE – American Pharoah is off to New York to try for the Triple Crown – but first, a return to Louisville.

As he prepares for the Belmont Stakes on June 6, American Pharoah, who won the Preakness Stakes here at Pimlico on Saturday, will do the bulk of his training at Churchill Downs, where he won the Kentucky Derby on May 2 and has been based since shortly after his win in the Arkansas Derby on April 11. He arrived here the Wednesday prior to the Preakness and will have the same itinerary heading into the Belmont, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday morning at Pimlico.

Handle on the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore dropped 10 percent compared with the same race last year, a decline that was at least partially due to a late thunderstorm that washed out handicappers’ confidence in their already low expectations for payouts in the race.

BALTIMORE – For Firing Line, Saturday’s Preakness Stakes was over before it truly began. Two jumps into the race, the Kentucky Derby runner-up stumbled over the sloppy Pimlico track, and he never truly recovered.

“Pretty much chance over,” said a downtrodden Simon Callaghan, the trainer of Firing Line, who ultimately was eased across the wire by Gary Stevens in seventh place in the eight-horse field. “He stumbled badly at the second jump, went down on his head, and he never really got hold of the track. He got behind; nothing was kind of happening for him today.”

Perry Ouzts moved into 12^th place on the all-time list of winningest jockeys by riding three winners Saturday at Belterra Park in Cincinnati.

Ouzts, who will turn 61 this summer, passed Hall of Fame rider Sandy Hawley with his 6,451^st win when he guided Olympio’s Gal to a wire-to-wire victory in the final race on Saturday’s program.

He now needs just 20 more wins to move ahead of his cousin, Hall of Fame rider Earlie Fires.

Robert Adair, the leading rider at Los Alamitos for much of the 1970s and one of Quarter Horse racing’s leading all-time jockeys, died on Saturday after a lengthy battle with cancer, according to a statement released by Los Alamitos.

Adair was 71. He died at his home in Southern California.

BALTIMORE – It was the perfect storm – or in the case of the 140th Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico, the most imperfect of storms.

Thunderstorms had been widely predicted by weather forecasters to precede the scheduled 6:18 p.m. Eastern post time for the second jewel of the Triple Crown. On cue, black clouds began gathering ominously with less than an hour to post, and the unmistakable smell of impending rain was in the air.