WHEN he loomed up fast in the home straight and went on to win a heat of the McKenna Memorial, Punk Warrior put himself into a Group final at Sandown on Thursday night.

The son of Vapour Whirl-Punk Portrait has always shown ability and already boasts a Traralgon track record over 658m.

The dog has been tried over more distance winning at The Meadows over 725m but against Bobby Boucheau and his mates in the Sandown Cup heats he was slightly off the pace.

That might change in the future.

Punk Warrior has a pedigree I absolutely admire, but it might also be a pedigree that for some could be slightly misleading.

It has many very strong influences that are quite obvious, but some not so obvious without a little bit of research.

So let's take a look at the obvious and not so obvious aspects that go to make up Punk Warrior.

Staring us right in the face in the pedigree of Punk Warrior is a 3x3 link between the litter brothers Big Ginger Boy (damsire of Vapour Whirl) and Black Shiraz (grandsire of Punk Warrior's dam Punk Portrait).

This has been a common theme within the pedigree of some of Vapour Whirl's best progeny, namely Messi the Launching Pad winner who was a Melbourne Cup finalist. Messi's pedigree is dominated much more by the cross of Big Ginger Boy and Black Shiraz than is Punk Warrior.

Considering the position of the brothers in the pedigree of Punk Warrior, I'm not quite certain they would have had as much impact on the outcome as would be expected.

I'm just as certain there would be some influence, but how much no one can be certain.

Both Messi and Punk Warrior also carry a duplication and sex balance of Walkabout Sid one of the very strongest influences within a pedigree of today.

It is amazing the number of city winners and Group performers I find with a double to Walkabout Sid, generally via a daughter and his son Head Honcho.

More of this later.

Also staring us right in the face in the pedigree of Punk Warrior is a 4x3 link between Black Pirate and his half sister Hoppy's Star. Both are out of Hoppy's Girl that most wonderful producer whose offspring also included Bomber Gleeson, Dallas Duo, Nashemraro etc.

This is the direct damline of Sheila At Last (Punk Warrior's eighth dam) the famous dam of legend sire Monalee Champion.

What I find particularly interesting in the pedigree of Punk Warrior is the fact he has a cross of Farloe Melody* in his second dam Punk Star. Farloe Melody has no fewer than three crosses of Sheila At Last all through different sons Greenane Gem, Monalee Champion and Monalee King.

This is balanced by the fact Sheila At Last comes along the tail female line of Punk Warrior via her daughter Monalee Tiny (a litter sister to Greenane Gem).

As I said earlier…there is much more to Punk Warrior's pedigree than meets the eye.

It does not surprise that his sire Vapour Whirl can produce a stayer even though he was best known himself as a sprinter.

Vapour Whirl won the Cranbourne, Gold Coast and Warragul Cups. He was invited into the Topgun and The Temlee and won his way to a number of Group finals.

His pedigree, or a perceived lack of pedigree, caused broodbitch owners to shy away from him when he first went to stud. He's had to do it tough, but Vapour Whirl has done it nevertheless.

He gets a city winner every 9.5 pups he sires which puts him 10th in Australia and ahead of such greats as Collision, Big Daddy Cool, Hallucinate and his brother Where's Pedro, Surf Lorian, Go Wild Teddy, Primo Uno etc etc.

While Vapour Whirl was a sprinter, breeders must always remember that his litter brother was Rocky (Ashigga-Broad Band) that most genuine of stayers who won wherever he went and contested many, many Group finals over distance.

Rocky and Vapour Whirl both had long careers, indicating soundness which must always be one of the first ingredients when putting together a pedigree.

Their dam Broad Band is a broodbitch I find particularly interesting.

She is fabled in that she never won a race and yet was still able to produce such outstanding gallopers as Vapour Whirl and Rocky.

The bitch carries a double of the famous broodbitch Mandalass via two of her daughters Shy Sarah and Newmore Glenys. Both these bitches are positioned to impact the mating that produced Broad Band.

Another daughter of Mandalass was the high class staying bitch Del Bairn Babe who in turn produced Australian Cup winner Tangairn. A daughter of Del Bairn Babe is Nikki Bairn winner of the Olympic Park Sprint Championship.

Tangairn is a very important balancing influence within any mating of sons, grandsons etc of Black Shiraz.

Which obviously must now brings us to Primo Uno, the damsire of Punk Warrior.

The aforementioned Nikki Bairn is the fourth dam of Primo Uno.

Which also brings us back to Hoppy's Girl who is duplicated in the pedigree of Punk Warrior. Hoppy's Girl's sire is none other than Tangairn the three-quarter brother to Nikki Bairn who both in turn are half brother and sister to Shy Sarah (duplicated in the pedigree of Punk Warrior through Big Ginger Boy and Black Shiraz) and Newmore Glenys.

So what we have in the pedigree of Punk Warrior is not only some very obvious links between brothers Big Ginger Boy and Black Shiraz, and Black Pirate and his half sister Hoppy's Star, but we also have a saturation of the broodbitch Mandalass significantly through three females and one male (an all important balancing effect).

Of great importance to this mating is the duplication of Walkabout Sid 5x5. Many of the best progeny and certainly a great number of the city winners sired by Primo Uno carried just this duplication. It has worked exceptionally well in reverse in the pedigree of Punk Warrior.

And it is positioned significantly to impact the mating.

Punk Portrait, dam of Punk Warrior, was an outstanding galloper who ran records over the sprint and was a multiple and fast city winner.

Second dam Punk Star was also a city winner.

Third dam Hoppy's Star was a Group class sprinter.

Fourth dam Hoppy's Girl was a Maturity finalist and a half sister to Melbourne Cup winner Sydney Dingaan.

Is it any wonder Punk Warrior is as good as he is!