Covert Love - Jessica Slack

Jessica has a share in this horse Covert Love. Part of FOMO Syndicate (Fear Of Missing Out)

Hugo Palmer is targeting the Middleton Stakes at York as a starting point for last year's Irish Oaks winner Covert Love.

The Newmarket handler is to ready the four-year-old for a shot at the mile-and-a-quarter Group Two prize in May before stepping her back up to the top level.

Although only losing her maiden tag at Chelmsford last May, the daughter of Azamour was one of the major success stories of the season after ascending through the ranks at a rapid rate.

After just being denied in the Yorkshire Oaks following her Classic victory, the five-times race winner bounced back when adding the Prix de l'Opera to her name before finishing a creditable fourth on ground softer than ideal in the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot.

Palmer said: "She will start in the Middleton. I tried to think left and right, up and down, laterally, inside and outside a box, for a way not to start her without carrying a Group One penalty in a Group Two, but it is the obvious race for her.

"It will be a Group One in all but name. The question is, who are we going to be frightened of who doesn't have a Group One penalty?

"We only beat Jazzi Top a head in Paris and we will have to carry 3lb more than her. The Middleton is a mile, two furlongs and 88 yards and the Opera is a mile and two furlongs. The consensus on Opera day was that we outstayed Jazzi Top. Another 88 yards that day and we might have beaten her a length. There was very little between them in Paris and I've the utmost respect for her.

"Another John Gosden filly, Journey, wouldn't carry a 3lb penalty, although I suspect she might need soft ground to be seen as a Group One filly, but I might be wrong.

"The rest of them - Found, Simple Verse, Tapestry and Legatissimo - they all carry a 3lb penalty so we would take them on on level terms. Of all those fillies, I would think there is not a lot between them."

Did she always have a share?