The full brother to Champion 2YO Colt Written By, promising Written Tycoon colt Royal Insignia showed more than a glimpse of the family ability when posting his first stakes win at Sandown on Saturday when taking out the $200,000 Group III MRC Manfred Stakes (1200m).
Royal Insignia wins the G3 Manfred Stakes - image Grant Courtney
Trained by Grahame Begg and ridden by Jamie Mott, Royal Insignia finished 2024 with a pair of wins in lower grade at Kyneton and Caulfield in November and was returning from a short summer break.
He hit the line with a rush to score by half a length taking his overall record to three wins from five starts with prizemoney topping $173,000.
Bred
and retained to race by the Begg family, Royal Insignia was foaled and raised at Widden Stud and is the eighth winner from eight to race from exceptional producer Yau Chin, whose star son Written By stands at Widden Stud, while her star daughter C’Est Magique was bought by Tom Magnier for $1.7million at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale last year.
"We've always had a lot of faith in this horse," Grahame Begg said.
"I took him to Bendigo for his first race and he got it all wrong that day. He got beaten eight lengths and I came home scratching my head and thought what has gone wrong here.
"We turned him out, brought him back and gave him a couple of runs later in the spring but he's gone to another level now.
"He's pretty exciting, an unassuming horse that travels well in his races. He wants to relax and get there on the line."
Royal Insignia returns a G3 winner - image Grant Courtney
Begg will look to step Royal Insignia up in trip with the Group I VRC Australian Guineas a possible goal with the Group III C S Hayes Stakes (1400m) on February 15 the next target on that pathway for an exciting colt from a remarkable producer.
"The sad part is we had to put his mother down yesterday," Begg said.
"She was an old mare but a great producer.
"We've got another promising filly out of the family Perfect Picture (3f Toronado (IRE) x Take a Selfie) that won at Pakenham recently and she's out of a half-sister to this horse (Royal Insignia).
"She's very exciting as well so the family lives on."
The Begg family sold a yearling filly by Capitalist from Yau Chin at Magic Millions last year in the Widden draft to China Horse Club for $370,000 and she has been named Exceptional Beauty. Yau Chin then produced a filly in 2024 by Zoustar that is a full sister to Group II winner C’Est Magique and is her final foal.
Royal Insignia is the 70th stakes-winner for Written Tycoon.
