WHEN Dermot Cantillon purchased Russian Society, a stakes-placed daughter of Darshaan (Shirley Heights), for 24,000gns in 2015, he possibly was hoping to produce a champion with the foal she was carrying, a daughter of Poet’s Voice (Dubawi).

After all, isn’t that what we all hope to do, not matter what our means, and both sides of Russian Society’s pedigree were packed with quality. The Group 1 winning miler Poet’s Voice was represented at the time by his first two-year-olds, a crop that was to include dual Group 1 winner and now Boardsmill Stud stallion Poet’s Word, and the Italian classic winner Poeta Diletto, while the stallion’s first southern hemisphere crop gave us the Group 1 winner Trap For Fools.

On the female side of the family, Russian Society’s grandam Arctique Royale (Royal And Regal) won the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas and the then Group 2 Moyglare Stud Stakes. This is a clue to how long ago this was, and those wins were gained in 1980 and the following year. While she was hugely successful on the racecourse, Arctique Royale was even more influential as a broodmare.

Three of her nine winners were successful at group level, including Russian Society’s dam Russian Snows (Sadler’s Wells). She won a Group 2 in France, a listed race at Galway and was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish Oaks.

However, there is a myriad of stakes winners from daughters and granddaughters that litter the pedigree page, and among them are the Group 1 winners Cerulean Sky (Darshaan), the Irish Oaks heroine Moonstone (Dalakhani), dual Hong Kong top-level winner Wellington (All Too Hard) and Australian Oaks heroine Colette (Hallowed Crown).

French-born

Back to the filly Russian Society was carrying when Dermot Cantillon purchased her. Born in France, she was named Anna Bunina and she first appeared in public when she sold, through Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm, at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale. She was bought, in a private transaction, by Warren House for 24,000gns and joined Jedd O’Keeffe.

At three Anna Bunina won four times, from seven furlongs to a mile and a half, and then realised 52,000gns back in Newmarket.

Since joining John McConnell, she has won three hurdle races, and at the weekend she bettered her 2021 effort in the Grade 2 Scottish Champion Hurdle when she was runner-up, and this time she produced a great flourish to win with some comfort. Travelling to Scotland seems to bring out the best in her.

Sadly, Anna Bunina was the last of Russian Society’s 11 foals, seven of which have been winners and another three were placed. She was always well covered, and one of her other winners, Skywards Reward (Dubawi), was a three-time winner – all gained at the age of seven and over hurdles!