Tom Law

The big weekend in the books and a shade more than a week to go before Saratoga 2014 wraps for the season.

One year removed from bidding for a sweep of the Big Apple Triple and its big bonus, Mike Hushion is back with another big chance in the $250,000 Albany Stakes that headlines today’s inaugural Saratoga Showcase program for New York-breds.

The Travers is still the Travers. If you need proof after feeling the energy around town this week and after looking at the field for today’s 145th edition of the signature event of the Saratoga Race Course season, then consider a few factors.

John Guerrera deferred to his trainer but always thought Uncle Southern would follow her father and be more effective on the dirt than the turf.

Brian Lynch was one of the last people out of the Saratoga Race Course paddock a few minutes before Wednesday’s inaugural running of the $100,000 Better Talk Now Stakes.

The atmosphere in the stable area during the next-to-last dark day of the Saratoga Race Course meeting Tuesday morning was its usual low-key scene.

Week 5 comes to a close Monday with the first running of a stakes named for one of the most dominating winners in Saratoga history and a rescheduled steeplechase race from last week.

Weekend Hideaway didn’t slip through the cracks when he sold as a yearling at a dispersal sale in 2011, though he didn’t exactly stand out, either.