Loving Gaby’s former trainer bought the first foal from the dual Group 1 winner.
Loving Gaby's first foal is headed for the stable of the man who trained her to two Group 1 wins after Ciaron Maher won the battle for her filly by Pierata at Magic Millions.
Maher outlasted all players when he went to $800,000 for the filly on Tuesday's first day of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Maher prepared Loving Gaby, a daughter of I Am Invincible, to win four of her 13 starts, including the William Reid Stakes and Manikato Stakes at Group 1 level, along with Group 1 placings in the Newmarket Handicap, Black Caviar Lightning, VRC Sprint Classic, ATC Sires' and Champagne Stakes.
Victoria's leading trainer described the Segenhoe Stud-prepared filly as a 'clone' of her mother and was keen to ensure she end up in his stable.
"She was only lightly-raced, she was very good and I thought she'd done a great job with her first foal," Maher said.
"The Pieratas as a whole, I thought they were good cuts of horses and I thought he stamped her pretty well, although I reckon she's thrown to the dam.
"I was pretty happy with the whole product really.
"I saw her as a foal at Segenhoe Stud when I was up there the year before, she was a cracking horse then and I thought, at one stage, they were going to retain her, being a filly, and I was hoping that I didn't have to buy her.
"But, either way, we now have her to train so we're looking forward to that."
Loving Gaby is from the Mastercraftsman mare Maastricht, who was trained by Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes, who was a two-time winner but placed in a Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes and is a half-sister to Group 1 Goodwood Handicap winner Velocitea.
After delivering the Pierata filly, Loving Gaby was served by Snitzel and had a last year had a filly before visiting Aclaim, who stands alongside Pierata at Aquis.
Her first foal was the highest-priced lot of Day 1 at the time of selling, later surpassed by the filly by Zoustar out of Members Joy who sold for $1.1 million, one lot before a colt by Capitalist out of Menagerie sold for $850,000.
