Grahame Begg emotional following win of Royal Insignia in Manfred Stakes at Sandown

Royal Insignia provided trainer Grahame Begg with a timely win in the Manfred Stakes at Sandown a day after a tragedy for the stable.

Royal Insignia swoops past Tropicus and Band Of Brothers to win the Manfred Stakes at Sandown. Picture: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images

Sadness echoed through trainer Grahame Begg’s voice despite Royal Insignia’s terrific first-up win in the Group 3 Manfred Stakes at Sandown.

Royal Insignia completed his third win from five starts when he sprinted hard to claim the $200,000 feature a day after a tragedy for the stable.

An emotional Begg lamented the loss of Royal Insignia’s dam Yau Chin, who also produced the trainer’s Blue Diamond Stakes winner Written By.

“The sad part about it was that we had to put his mother down yesterday,” Begg said.

“She was an old mare, but a great producer, so it’s very sad.”

Like Written By, Royal Insignia is a son of Written Tycoon, who Begg bought as a yearling and trained to win at Group 2 level as a two-year-old.

Begg wondered what went wrong when Royal Insignia went to Bendigo for his first start in April last year.

“I’ve always had a lot of faith in this horse,” Begg said.

“I took him to Bendigo for his first start and he got beaten about eight lengths and I couldn’t believe it.

“I came home and was scratching my head and was thinking, ‘what’s gone wrong here?’, so we turned him out.”

Royal Insignia flashes home to win the Manfred Stakes 🏅@jamieleemott@Grahame_Beggpic.twitter.com/G3FTDYJSIm

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) January 25, 2025

Time was the antidote Begg sought as Royal Insignia returned a vastly improved performer in the spring.

But Begg said Royal Insignia had developed further since his Caulfield win in November last year.

“He came back and had a couple of runs at the back end of the spring but he’s just gone to another level,” Begg said.

“He’s a pretty exciting horse.

“He’s pretty unassuming, travels beautifully and wants to relax and find the line.”

Begg said his aim was to get Royal Insignia to the Group 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington in March.

He said the Group 3 CS Hayes Stakes over 1400m at Flemington would be Royal Insignia’s next assignment.

Former outstanding filly Mosheen was the last horse to complete the Manfred Stakes/Australian Guineas double in 2012.

Originally published as Grahame Begg emotional following win of Royal Insignia in Manfred Stakes at Sandown