This year’s Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year’s inductees will instead be honored during next year’s ceremony, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame said on Thursday.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is held every August in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., concurrent with the immensely popular live racing meet at Saratoga Race Course. This year’s event was scheduled for Aug. 7. The Hall of Fame has also canceled the Museum Ball, which was scheduled this year for Aug. 14.

Belterra Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, plans to re-open June 4 with spectator-free racing, the track has announced.

Belterra, which was scheduled to open its 2020 meet in April but delayed those plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has plans to run 75 total race dates this year, on a Tuesday-through-Friday schedule, with a first post of 12:35 p.m., the track said. The amended racing schedule was approved Tuesday by the Ohio Racing Commission.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine’s revised stakes schedule reveals that the historic Canadian International has been shelved for this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Code of Honor, the multiple Grade 1 stakes winner at 3, will make his 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3, $100,000 Westchester Stakes on June 6 at Belmont Park, trainer Shug McGaughey told the New York Racing Association publicity department.

Code of Honor has been in training at Payson Park in Florida, where he recorded five breezes before shipping to Belmont Park this week.

Shivaree, runner-up in both the Grade 1 Florida Derby at 1 1/8 miles and the Grade 3 Swale at seven furlongs, will be under consideration for the Belmont Stakes, trainer Ralph Nicks said Wednesday.

“One intriguing factor with it being one turn is what’s the pace scenario going to be like?” Nicks said.

Given how well Shivaree ran at 1 1/8 miles, finishing second to Tiz the Law in the Florida Derby, Nicks said, “I’d sure be interested in doing it again.”

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said he is hoping to have a string at Saratoga this summer.

Joseph, who has developed one of the stronger barns on the East Coast with the likes of Math Wizard, Ny Traffic, and Tonalist’s Shape, said his goal is to have 12 to 16 horses at the Saratoga meet, which is scheduled to begin July 16.

“We now have the right clientele and the right kind of horses,” Joseph said. “Before we never had those kind of horses. Thankfully, we’re getting them now.”

Mischevious Alex was not on the work tab for seven weeks, but he was never out of training. Wednesday, the two-time graded stakes-winning 3-year-old returned to the work tab with a strong six-furlong move as he prepares for a return to the races in the Grade 1, $250,000 Woody Stephens Stakes on June 20 at Belmont Park.

The Woody Stephens is contested at seven furlongs and will be run the same day as the $1 million Belmont Stakes, now shortened to 1 1/8 miles.

The Louisiana Racing Commission on Wednesday voted narrowly to approve an amended dates application for Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., that will have the track starting its rescheduled live race meet on June 5.

Handle figures for the three-day weekend from May 15 through Sunday at Santa Anita were strong, despite the absence of ontrack handle amidst the coronavirus outbreak.

The three programs were the first racing days at Santa Anita since March 22 because of the pandemic. The track was ordered closed March 27 when it was deemed a nonessential business by the Los Angeles County Department of Publilc Health. County officials announced May 13 that Santa Anita could resume racing.

Donna Veloce, a graded stakes winner earlier this year, and one of the nation’s leading 2-year-old fillies in 2019, is scheduled to return to trainer Simon Callaghan’s stable in June after a month-long break at a Florida farm.

Donna Veloce remains a long-range candidate for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs, Callaghan said.

“She had a tiny setback, but she’s in some light training at the farm,” Callaghan said earlier this month. “We’ve got time on our side now in regards to the Kentucky Oaks.