Bugatti sells for €180,000 at elite auction

At the 131st Hanoverian Elite Auction in Verden, Germany, on Saturday (11 October), all 61 of the riding horses and all 43 foals were sold, with a price highlight of €180,000 (£141,966).

The system is different to that at many auctions in the UK; the minimum price at the elite sale is €10,000 (£7,887) and the bidding starts there, so there is no confusion over whether a horse has reached its reserve, as all bids are above the base price.

The top lot was the five-year-old gelding Bugatti, who went to a new home with Austrian buyers.

The leggy Benetton Dream x Sandro Hit son showed himself excellently in the auction, with active movement and a willing temperament.

There was brisk bidding, with customers from Iran, Indonesia, Italy, Ukraine, the USA and the UK, as well as a plethora of more local buyers.

The hammer came down again for the same Austrian contingency for the second most expensive horse — €150,000 (£118,305) for David — a five-year-old Dancier x Earl gelding. 
Five horses reached at least €100,000 (£78,870) and three jumpers under saddle found new homes with British clients.

All the horses by Floriscount achieved good prices, ranging from €40,000 (£31,548) to €145,000 (114,362) for a four-year-old black mare out of the dam-line of Michael Eilberg’s ride Der Designer (by De Niro).

The most expensive jumping horse was sold to Swedish clients and fetched €100,000 (£78,870).

The top foal, Dino by Don Frederic x Sandro King, also went to Sweden for €22,500 (£17,745).

The ridden horses averaged €38,524 (£30,384), a little down on last year’s average of €43,804 (£34,548).

The majority of the foals — whose price starts at €3,000 (£2,366) — made between €3,500 (£2,760) and €5,000 (£3,943), but the standout prices of Dino, C’Est La Vie (Cadeau Noir x Sunlight xx) for €21,000 (£16,562), Lacoste (Livaldon x Hohenstein) for €17,000 (£13,407) and Zauberlehrling (Zinedine x Cassini II) for €14,000 (£11,041) boosted the average foal price to €6,827 (£5,384), compared to €6,644 (£5,240) in 2013.

The first elite auction organised by the Hanoverian Verband was held in 1949. Today, the association’s annual calendar includes 10 sales.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now