Surprise winner in the Balanchine - Certify disappointing!

Surprise victory for L'AMOUR DE MA VIE in the Group 2 Balanchine at Meydan today. Surprising because most would have thought the French mare wouldn't stand a chance with Godolphin's super filly Certify. Maxime Guyon delivered a ride to perfection on the five year old though. He had her in a prominent position from the very beginning, which was probably an advantage, considering the pace wasn't the strongest in this race. L'Amour De Ma Vie kicked on nicely once approaching the home straight and soon got a little break on the rest of the field which she never gave away to win in fine style eventually. 

L'Amour De Ma Vie scored for the first time on Group level today. but she showed that she could be well up to this standard when she finished a fine runner-up to Certify in the G2 Cape Verdi three weeks ago, even though she was fair and square beaten by the Godolphin filly. CERTIFY wasn't in the same form today though. She was left flat footed in the closing stagesand didn't even finish in the money. She loomed strongly on the outside for a moment around 400m out but this effort came soon to a rather disappointing end. Maybe the horse to take out of this is the other french filly, FLOTILLA . She was below par in the Cape Verdi, when she was beaten more than six lengths by Certify, but showed herself in much better light today. Flotilla trailed the field and travelled very much the strongest turning for home. She couldn't catch the winner but she had enough in the tank to finish a fine second in the end, leaving Pearl of Africa and Certifa behind in third and fourth.