Emerging stars and upcoming winners from Australian racing over the past week.

Seracena (Flemington, September 27): The lightly-raced mare may not have had her race run to suit but her fighting effort looked that of a coming winner.

The So You Think four-year-old was resuming for her second campaign and found herself on pace in a race where the leaders went hard.

The mare reeled in the frontrunners in the straight and briefly hit the front but the race had been set up for the backmarkers.

Seracena couldn’t hold off the swoopers but fought strongly to the line for third, beaten a length.

She returned an encouraging first up Timeform rating of 77p and with natural improvement to come there is a race for her in the coming weeks.

Baysa (Rosehill, September 27): Another to make an eye-catching return to the track was Baysa at the Sydney midweek meeting at Rosehill.

The mare had progressed well at her maiden campaign, winning twice before earning a place in the Queensland Oaks where she was only 2.5 lengths behind Egg Tart.

Resuming over 1500m, Baysa bounded in the air at the start and settled at the tail, giving away a big start in the middle stages.

Copping a check on the home turn when still last, Baysa eventually secured clear running out wide and unleashed a big sprint, charging late to miss out on the win by a nose.

Fitter for the outing, Baysa looks hard to hold out over a longer trip next time.

Assimilate (Rosehill, September 23): The spring may be over for Assimilate but he is worth a place in the long-term blackbook.

The flashy chestnut was one of the standout efforts of the Group 1 Golden Rose, ending a maiden campaign that included wins at his first two starts and a charging second in the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Stakes.

Outpaced early in the Golden Rose, Assimilate settled at the tail of the field and spotted the leaders a big start on the bend but did his best work late to wind up fifth.

It was the run of a colt with a big future and having achieved a peak Timeform rating of 108 at his first preparation, he looks a major player in the autumn features with maturity on his side.