ANKUM, Germany, Dec. 7, 2014–SPH Dante, a seven-year-old Australian-bred dressage gelding, was sold Sunday to a Russian buyer for €2.8 million (US$3.44 million) that was a record in the 35 years of the Performance Sales International auction.

The Hanoverian-branded Dante (Welfenadel x Dormello) was owned by Andrea Beatty a lawyer who owns Saffron Stables of Arcadia near Sydney.

The horse, born Dec. 19, 2007, was the highlight of the auction that grossed €16.43 million (US$20.18 million).

The auction video can be seen here: http://transfer.clipmyhorse.de/PSI2014/ENG/26/

Dante, whose prefix was changed to SPH from SS (for Safron Stables) when the horse arrived in Germany because of the sensitivity of the initials, was to be ridden by young horse specialist Eva Möller in this year’s six-year-old division in the World Young Horse Championships at Verden, Germany. But the horse was scratched for veterinary issues.

“Dante already shows such an amazing talent for piaffe and passage at the age of six many other horses will never achieve at all during their whole life,” said Ullrich Kasselmann, one of the PSI owners and explained PSI influence in the pedigree.

Hof Kasselmann sold the dam Donna Carina to Australia at the age of two, she won the Young Dressage Horse Championships at the age of five and six and qualified for the world young horse championships. Granddam A Little Lady presented Legamento, the most expensive dressage horse of the 2005 PSI auction.

Dante won the Australian Young Dressage Horse Championships at the PSI Dressage and Jumping with the Stars at the ages of four, five and six and qualified for this year’s championships in Verden.

Andrea Beatty describes her Saffron Stables as a boutique horse stud breeding international quality dressage horses.

The Saffron breeding program uses world leading German stallions. Matthew Dowsley, who rode for Australia at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany and Rodney Martin are the Saffron Stable trainers.

The only three-year-old dressage gelding Quel Filou (Quaterback x Stedinger) and winner of the bronze medal at the German championships this year was sold for €1 million (US$1,129,000).

The eight-year-old mare Toulonia (Toulon x Balou du Rouet) who already won S***-level jumper classes, was sold €1.1 million to the United States as the highest-priced horse in the jumping collection.

The record gross revenue of €16.43 million was made up of a total of €8.68 million (US$10.66 million) for dressage horses and €7.76 million (US$9.534) for jumpers by customers from all over the world.

Correction: An earlier version gave the horse’s age as six. Dante was born Dec. 19, 2007 and was entered in the 2014 six-year-old division at the World Young Horse Championships. Sport horses celebrate their birthdays on the same date, January 1 in the Northern hemisphere and August 1 in the Southern hemisphere.