Widden Stud stallion Snippetson started the year with a string of winners in January and he began February with a potential stakes winner named Stagger at Canberra on Tuesday.

Stagger (2c Snippetson – Beckon Call by Commands) was never out of second gear but still won the Sunday 13/3 Black Opal Hcp (1000m) by 12 lengths.  The colt was a half-dozen lengths in front on the corner and he increased the margin when Kody Nestor clicked up at the furlong.

There have been several precocious youngster emerge in Canberra and Queanbeyan this season.  Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Karuta Queen (Not A Single Doubt) is head and shoulders above the juvenile division and flying filly Strike Alert (Alert) wasn’t headed in both of her starts in December.

Stagger is owned and trained by Brian Buckley and cost a mere $9,000 from Murrulla Stud at the 2010 Inglis Classic yearling sale.  His dam Beckon Call retired after just one start and the only black-type in her extended family is 1993 G3 MVRC Stocks Stakes winner Bon Precieux.

The mare has a yearling filly by Ferocity, a filly foal by Not a Single Doubt and she was bred back to Yarraman Park newcomer I Am Invincible in September.

Snippetson has now sired the winners of 11 races so far this year.  His oldest are three year-olds and there have been 28 individual winners to date at a 35% strike rate.  His only stakes winner has been NZ filly Miss Upstart (LR Murdoch Newell Stakes).

Snippetson (Snippets) was a $550,000 graduate of the 2003 Gold Coast Magic Millions and was a Listed winner of the Eskimo Prince Hcp and Maurice McCarten Stakes before retiring to Widden in 2006.  He averaged 170 mares in each of his first four seasons at stud at a $7,700 service fee.