Since her husband developed serious pneumonia in 1819 and died shortly after, the mother, Anna Szapáry, was alone responsible for the raising of the children in the Sándor household. Móric, who had not been taught anything until he was seventeen years old, was thus the next in line for the titles and the estate. He began his studies in a self-taught manner after the death of his brother and subsequently his father, and in a short time he mastered Italian and French, learnt to play the piano and the zither, and occasionally even composed Styrian songs. His father’s rigid upbringing had made an impression on him, and he had an aloof demeanour.

He was obsessed with horses and spent most of his time around them. Vince’s father, who had created the foundations of the colonial stud, built a stable behind the Bajna estate in 1802, and spent a fortune on the Buda royal stable, had already had a passion for horses.

Móric Sándor, however, was only allowed to ride a horse after his father died. The count’s tutor refused to let him near the horses, claiming that anyone who had not been trained how to ride was incapable of doing so. “He who has to learn how to ride will never be able to do so,” – Móric responded. Then he mounted a horse and leapt over a pole numerous times before discarding the saddle and leaping over an obstacle.

His talent turned into a passion, and he gave up everything to pursue it. He sold his grandmother’s dowry, the Ráró estate in Győr County, and the Sándor Palace in Buda built by his father, to the Italian Pallavicini family in 1831. 

In England, where he broke a particularly wild horse, people stated, “He is not human, he is a devil.” His hair-raising equestrian achievements reverberated throughout Budapest and Vienna. In the British Isles, he established several world records.

The count married Princess Leontine, the daughter of Austrian chancellor Metternich on 8 February 1835, in Vienna.

Móric reconstructed his mansion in Bajna for Leontine’s sake, where they spent their joyful marital years.

They had two children, Leo and Pauline, but the only male heir died suddenly when he was seven years old.

Móric Sándor’s lifelong obsession with horses led to his demise. He fell out of his coach during a jump in Linz in 1850 and smashed his head on an iron lattice. He went into a trance-like state and trashed a casino in Vienna a few days later. He was then transferred to a mental facility in Prague. He spent the rest of his life on his estate, surrounded by his equestrian relics, and his final years at the mental hospital in Döbling. He died in Vienna on 23 February 1878. 

With his death, the Bajna branch of the Sándor family of Szlavnica became extinct. The heir Countess Pauline Sándor de Szlavnica married her uncle, i.e. her mother’s step-brother, Richard 2^nd Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein. The prince served as a diplomat for the House of Habsburg, and he and his family travelled extensively. The couple’s first two daughters were thus born in Dresden, while Clementina, the youngest, was born in Bougival, near Paris. After the death of her husband in 1895, the count’s daughter, who had spent much time in Bajna, moved permanently to the estate and became an active participant in the life of the village.