Impressive debutant Unit Five has secured his ticket to the Magic Millions carnival after producing a polished first-up victory at Caulfield Heath.

Prepared by Ciaron Maher, the two-year-old captured the Magic Millions VIC 2YO Classic (1100m) on Saturday, ensuring qualification for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast on January 17.

Ridden confidently by Thomas Stockdale and sent out the $2.70 favourite, Unit Five scored decisively by 2-¼ lengths over Ko Phangan ($41), with Invincible Son ($6) finishing a further 1-¼ lengths away in third.

Maher said the colt’s professionalism made the performance easy to watch, especially given he had won a Cranbourne 800m jump-out just days earlier.

“I’m just rapt in the horse’s progression,” Maher said.

“We normally wouldn’t trial them that close, but he seems to find things easy.

“I can’t thank my team enough. I think that’s our fourth pre-Christmas two-year-old winner for the year, so the system is working very well and I’m very thankful for them as at this time of year, the two-year-olds is what it’s all about.”

Maher said Unit Five, named in honour of long-time Widden Stud stalwart David Merricks, had earned the chance to test himself at the Gold Coast.

The stable already has Tornado Valley pencilled in as its leading contender for the race, but Maher believes Unit Five has done enough to warrant inclusion.

“This bloke, timing wise, we thought we could then send him to Sydney and then he would be on the right leg for the Millions, but we’ll see how he comes through,” Maher said.

“He’s just so professional and I loved the way he presented and behaved himself in the yard.

“He was very calm behind the gates. He bounced and made Tom’s job pretty easy.

“Tom had a good winner for us the other day and he’s starting to make a habit of it, so it’s good to be associated with him.”

Stockdale said the colt showed him more on race day than he had in his jump-out earlier in the week.

“I didn’t let him off the chain too much at Cranbourne bearing in mind this was a possibility,” Stockdale said.

“It was great to see him extend off the bridle, which I hadn’t seen before, and he will improve.

“He’s still very raw, still very ‘looky’, but he has the natural talent to progress into a nice horse.”

Early Magic Millions markets and betting options for Unit Five can be followed via the Australian betting sites list.