Sarkozy was licensed as a 2.5-year-old colt with the Oldenburg Society first, followed by the Hanoverian, Rhinelander, Westfalen and Mecklenburger Verband. He did his 30-day stallion performance test in Schlieckau in November 2008 and scored 9.01 for dressage and 6.88 for show jumping, finishing on a total of 8.03 points. Owned by Paul Schockemöhle, Sarkozy was first trained and competed by Anja Engelbart as a 4-year-old in 2009. A few months later, Eva Möller took over the ride and won the 2009 Hanoverian Young Horse Championships with him, followed by silver at the 2009 Bundeschampionate. In 2010, the pair was selected to represent Germany at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden, where they placed 11th in the finals after ranking fifth in the preliminary round. At the Bundeschampionate a month later, they were fourth in the 5-year-old dressage horse finals.