LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., fresh off his triumph aboard Fort Larned in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, announced Wednesday that he will move his tack to Gulfstream Park for the winter, marking a shift from his longstanding winter base at Fair Grounds.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Courtville got a dream run along the inside in his Oct. 19 victory over Ontario-sired allowance opposition. He will stretch out in distance in Friday’s featured first-level allowance for open company at Woodbine, and could strike again in the 1 1/16-mile event.

Courtville romped second time out at the meet May 18, in a nonwinners of two allowance route for Ontario-sired stock. He met some formidable opposition June 10 in the nine-furlong Victoria Park Stakes, in which he wound up a distant third behind Prospective and Patrioticandproud.

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., will not allow horses from Hawthorne Race Course to enter its stable area when it opens on Monday due to six cases of equine herpesvirus found in horses at the Chicago-area racetrack. The first case of EHV-1, a contagious infection that can cause both respiratory and neurological diseases, was diagnosed Oct. 14.

Aqueduct canceled its Wednesday card in anticipation of a nor'easter that is expected to being rain and high winds to the New York area beginning this afternoon.

The Wednesday storm comes just over a week after Hurricane Sandy hit the area, and many people are still without power or other basic services.

Aqueduct and the Belmont Café will remain open for simulcasting Wednesday and Telebet and Internet wagering will be available.

Fair Meadows in Tulsa, Okla., will cease live racing operations in 2013, but will continue to simulcast through at least the end of the year, track official Ron Shotts said. He said Fair Meadows is meeting with officials from Will Rogers Downs, which is in nearby Claremore, Okla., this week to discuss the prospects of Fair Meadows operating an offtrack betting parlor next year under the jurisdiction of Will Rogers.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint winner Hightail was one of 15 horses pre-entered Tuesday in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot. The 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds will be run Nov. 17. It is the centerpiece of the Delta meet in Vinton, La., and it anchors a card of eight stakes worth $2.2 million. The program also includes the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Downs Princess for 2-year-old fillies, which drew 14 pre-entries Tuesday.

Final entries for both races will be taken next Wednesday, Nov. 14. The fields will each be limited to 10 starters over the six-furlong oval at Delta.

Merit Man, second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint last Friday, will be rested until the new year, with an emphasis on 3-year-old sprints, trainer Bob Hess Jr. said.

In the BC Juvenile Sprint over six furlongs, Merit Man was the 1-2 favorite in a field of five. He led by a length with a furlong remaining, but was caught late by the maiden Hightail, a 15-1 shot trained by D. Wayne Lukas.

After the race, Merit Man scoped cleanly despite racing without Lasix like all other 2-year-olds in the Breeders’ Cup, Hess said.

This much is certain: There will be an autumn meeting at Betfair Hollywood Park for six weeks beginning Thursday and a spring-summer meeting starting in late April.

After that, the future of the historic racetrack is uncertain. There is a chance the property could be sold to real estate developers next year, which would lead to the cessation of racing. Then again, the track could still be running at this time next year.

For the first time in five years, a jockey not named Rafael Bejarano or Joel Rosario has won a riding title at a major Southern California race meeting.

Joe Talamo was the runaway leader at the Santa Anita autumn meeting that ended Sunday, finishing with 37 wins, 15 more than Bejarano.

Rosario, who rides primarily in New York, was not a factor.

For Talamo, 22, the title was his first in Southern California, and first since the 2006-07 Fair Grounds meeting in his first full year of riding.

With a nor’easter forecast to pummel the area starting midday Wednesday, there is a strong probability Thursday’s $75,000 Pentelis overnight stakes at Aqueduct will be run in slop or mud. Such an eventuality would be nothing new for the five fillies and mares entered in the 6 1/2-furlong race, who have collectively won 16 of 20 starts on wet tracks.

Among them is My Wandy’s Girl, a 3-year-old filly purchased last year in Ocala, Fla., who then went to Camarero Race Park in Puerto Rico to win 13 of 17 starts, capped by the Roberto Clemente in late August.