The plan was always to head to Australia but now it is a case of deciding between Sydney and Brisbane after the win by Indikator in the Rotorua Cup.Indikator confirmed he had come back better than ever when he won the Group Three 2200m feature on Saturday, taking his record to two wins and a second from three starts this campaign.At the same time, it reaffirmed earlier thoughts the Rotorua Cup would be the launching pad to Australia."This race was always going to be his last before Australia," I

The plan was always to head to Australia but now it is a case of deciding between Sydney and Brisbane after the win by Indikator in the Rotorua Cup.

Indikator confirmed he had come back better than ever when he won the Group Three 2200m feature on Saturday, taking his record to two wins and a second from three starts this campaign.

At the same time, it reaffirmed earlier thoughts the Rotorua Cup would be the launching pad to Australia.

"This race was always going to be his last before Australia," Indikator's trainer Keith Opie said.

"As long as he pulls up good and we are happy with him in the next three or four days, he'll go back to Australia."

Opie had been thinking of campaigning Indikator in Sydney over the winter but is now considering whether to raise his sights to the Queensland winter carnival.

At the top of the agenda would be the Group Two Brisbane Cup (2400m) at Eagle Farm on June 12.

"Up until today I was looking to go to Sydney - he could race there every week for $A70,000 if we wanted," Opie said.

"But the owner said to me today `should we look at the Brisbane Cup now'. That's something we need to work out."

Indikator raced in the Sydney region last year when he had four starts and notched third and fourth placings in two Group Three events

The six-year-old was slow to mature but Opie said the trip to Sydney was just what the gelding needed.

"I have no doubt that it was the making of him. He finally grew up. He went from being a boy in short pants to start becoming a man."

Indikator was spelled upon his return from Sydney and Opie said the difference in the horse was obvious.

"As soon as he came home you knew the difference in him," he said.

"He had never been one to really rest when spelling but this time he really enjoyed his spell. He actually rested instead of walking up and down the fence line."

Opie, 60, is a former jockey who has been training for about 30 years and for the last decade he has been manager of Waikato thoroughbred nursery Millfield Stud in Matamata.

Millfield Stud is owned by Peter Setchell, the breeder and owner of Indikator.

Setchell used to stand Indikator's sire Sandtrap at Millfield but has since relocated the horse to Grangewilliam Stud while still remaining the stallion's owner.

Indikator was sent out second favourite on Saturday and settled midfield for jockey Reese Jones before finishing strongly to get the better of Tinseltown by a neck.

Jones had ridden the winner of the Rotorua Cup 21 years earlier when successful on the Jim Gibbs-trained Mickey's Town in 1989.