Sentence:  During the <WSD>summer</WSD> he had tried to repair some of his losses at the track , and the bare trees reminded him that his pari-mutuel tickets would still be lying , like leaves , in the gutters near Belmont and Saratoga . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the warmest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox