December sales 2026: the buyer's checklist

By Sami Adham, bloodstock agent · Silk Road Bloodstock · 25 October 2026

silkroadbloodstock.com/december-sales-checklist · Email info@silkroadbloodstock.com · Phone +971 52 311 2385

Tattersalls, Arqana and Goffs sell in the same three weeks. Tick these boxes before you bid, and December is calm. Miss one, and it is a very expensive phone call. One page, free to print.

1. Your brief, in one email

• Budget per horse, all in (from US$50,000).
• Aim: race, breed, or both.
• Where the horse will race or live (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Europe, elsewhere).
• Which sales: Tattersalls, Arqana, Goffs, or all three.
• Who signs and who pays: you, your company, or a partner. The horse is bought in that name.

2. Register with each sale house (separately)

• Tattersalls: New Buyer Form, ID and a banker's reference from your bank. You cannot bid until Tattersalls confirms in writing.
• Arqana: Payment Reference form for first-time buyers, sent before the sale. Purchases are cash sales, paid in full straight after.
• Goffs: its own new-buyer registration. Ask Goffs what it needs and how long it takes.
• Purchasers Authorisation at each sale, so your agent can bid and sign in your name.
• Your bank: warn it about a large sterling or euro transfer. A letter before the sale saves a tense call after it.

3. Budget and fees, in one currency

• Hammer limit in the sale's currency. Tattersalls bids in guineas (1 guinea = £1.05). Arqana and Goffs bid in euros. Convert on the day: currency moves.
• Sale company charges. Arqana publishes a 6% buyer's commission plus VAT (10% or 20%). Tattersalls and Goffs: read each Conditions of Sale.
• VAT. A horse exported from the UK can usually be zero-rated with proof of export, normally within 3 months (HMRC Notice 703). Ask a tax adviser for your case.
• Our fee: 5% of the price, minimum US$5,000, agreed in writing before we bid. On a US$110,000 mare: US$5,500. On a US$60,000 foal: US$5,000.
• You pay the sale company directly. Your money never goes through us. If we are ever paid by both sides, both are told in writing first.
• After the hammer: vet, insurance, transport, stud farm or livery, and later monthly training fees. Ask for each one quoted in writing. Try our cost calculator.

4. Vetting, before every bid

• Your own independent vet. The vet works for you, not the seller.
• X-rays and reports lodged by the seller (at Tattersalls, in the Repository, which only vets can see).
• Mares in foal: covering certificate, pregnancy certificate dated close to the sale, breeding record.
• Listen to announcements from the rostrum. At Arqana, defects announced there are not covered by the seller's guarantee.
• Returns are rare and the time limits are strict. Read the Conditions of Sale, or let us read them for you.

5. Your bidding limit, in writing

• One number per horse, in the sale's currency, signed or emailed by you before the sale.
• Say if it includes or excludes the sale company's commission and VAT.
• We never bid above it. If the price goes higher, we stop. A missed horse is cheaper than a regret.

6. Insurance from the fall of the hammer

• Cover booked before you bid, so it starts when the hammer falls.
• Ask each sale company when the risk passes to you. It is in the Conditions of Sale.

7. Shipping and where the horse lives

• Stud farm or shipper booked before the sale. December is busy and good boxes go early.
• Many December horses stay in Europe first: mares near the stallions, foals on a farm until they are older.
• Import rules of the home country first. For the UAE, an import permit is needed before the horse leaves, and horses arrive by air only.
• Export papers: from the UK, an export health certificate; from France, Arqana handles export formalities once paid; from Ireland, ask Goffs and the shipper.
• Pregnant mares: ask the vet and the shipper about the stage of pregnancy before you bid.

8. Delivery to a licensed trainer

• Licensed trainers train. We help you choose one, place the horse and supervise the plan.
• Training fees quoted in writing before the horse arrives: monthly fee, vet, farrier, entries, travel.
• Racing registration in good time: for example the Emirates Racing Authority in the UAE or France Galop in France.

9. The December dates (as listed)

Dates checked 23 October 2026 from Tattersalls, Arqana and the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing sales calendar. Always check the sale company's website before you travel. We are not affiliated with any sale company. We source the best horses from sales all over the world, and December is one stop: see the sales we buy from.

A plain word

Racing is never certain. Nobody can promise a win, prize money or a resale price, and we do not. Owning a racehorse is a passion, not a way to make money. What a good checklist does is take the avoidable surprises out of December.

Read more: Tattersalls December Sales guide, buying at the Arqana December Sale, buying at the December sales from the Gulf or Asia, buying after the Breeders' Cup, your private winter shortlist and fees and process.

Sources

• Tattersalls: information for buyers and sale dates
• Tattersalls: Conditions of Sale
• Arqana: buyer information (commission, VAT, registration, guarantee)
• Goffs: sales and buyer registration
• Irish Thoroughbred Marketing: Irish horse sales 2026
• Discover Newmarket: Tattersalls December Foal Sale 2026
• HMRC Notice 703: VAT on goods exported from the UK
• GOV.UK: get an export health certificate
• Australian Government MICoR: UAE import conditions for horses (import permit, air only)

A plain-English checklist, not legal, tax or veterinary advice. Each sale company's Conditions of Sale apply. Updated 25 October 2026.