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Sandbar, one of Sydney’s fastest three-year-olds, will focus on a Melbourne campaign when he returns to racing in 2019.

Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup and Sandbar’s owner Damion Flower have their eyes on the feature sprints in the early autumn in Melbourne, especially the G1 Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield.

Flower said a program was in train to prepare Sandbar for his Melbourne campaign.

“We will look to trial him in mid-January,” Flower said. “We could then trial him again or race him in Sydney or he could go straight to Melbourne to run first-up in the Rubiton Stakes or the Oakleigh Plate.”

Flower is eager to see Sandbar put some worthy Group One form on the board in the autumn to enhance the Snitzel colt’s value as a stallion prospect.

Widdup and Flower took the view that Sandbar would be at his best in the second half of his three-year-old season and for that reason restricted him to only four starts in the spring.

“We didn’t send him to Melbourne. Instead he went out and had a great break and has come back looking fantastic,” Flower said.

“He has really thickened up and matured and we are looking at a nice campaign with him.”

Sandbar won the Listed Rosebud (1100m) first-up in August and went for a spell after finishing second to Sesar in the G2 Roman Consul Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on October 6.

In between he held his own when fourth behind top colts The Autumn Sun, Zousain and Graff in the G1 Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill.

Flower has developed his Platinum Park complex into the biggest stable at Hawkesbury with the majority of the 50 horses Widdup has in work raced by the enthusiastic owner.

Widdup and Flower are focused on qualifying at least one of their two-year-olds for the $2 million Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast on January 12.

Their best prospects are Islands and Jailbreak, a pair who made their debuts when fifth and seventh in the Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic on December 12 won by Unite And Conquer.

Islands will attempt to qualify for a start at the Gold Coast at Canterbury on January 4 while Jailbreak puts his chances on the line at Randwick on Boxing Day.