Pinner, who trains in Longford, is coming off open heart surgery earlier this year.

I Love This Bar ($1.90 fav) settled second behind the tearaway leader Roundhouse Miss that led by three lengths nearing the home turn.

But when jockey Georgie Catania called on her filly to extend she quickly cruised to the leader and went on to score easily, pleasing Pinner.

“She was unlucky last start and the last couple of starts as well,” the 30-year-old said. 

“I was excited to see how she would handle the track and she handled it quite well.

“I’ve always wanted to get her to the Magic Millions and play it by ear from there, and now she’s qualified.”

Catania was also impressed with the filly and thrilled to get a win for a friend.

“I was glad something crossed when we jumped because she got a little bit lost having never been at this track,” Catania said. 

“But once something passed us, she tracked up a lot better and I really didn’t have to let her go until the last bit.

“Big congratulations to Justin, he’s gone through a hard time and it’s good that I’ve got a winner for a good mate.”

Pinner is taking things easy at the moment on the road to recovery, and has just a small stable currently in work.

“Having open heart surgery at 30 isn’t real good, so I’m another 6-12 months away from doing anything physical,” he said.

“I’ve got my Mum helping me out, so we’ve tipped all the babies out and only just have the two horses at the moment, but have a lot more to come back into work.”

The feature race of the day, the Class 5 Handicap over 1350m, saw the Adam Trinder-trained Harvey Bay ($4.40) score an easy win ahead of O’Reilly’s Geegee and short-priced favourite, Siorca.

Trinder scored a double on the day when Steel Moon ($3.00 fav) saluted in the Benchmark 72 Handicap over 1150m, while there was also winning doubles to female riders Sigrid Carr, Raquel Clark and Catania.