After racing with little luck, the stars aligned for the 4-year-old Shalaa (IRE) gelding Semillion in Saturday’s $250,000 Listed De Bortoli Wines Takeover Target Stakes (1200m) at Newcastle.

Jake Stephens was rarely far from the headlines with his Mackinnon Stakes winner Alcopop and is back in the spotlight with a close relation to the Group 1  winner in En Francais, who earned a maiden stakes win in Saturday’s Group III Hahn The Cummings Stakes (1600m) at Morphettville.