Love Came to Town keeps it all in the family

The 3-year-old filly Love Came to Town, who is entered in a first-level allowance sprint at Parx Racing on Sunday, not only has a bright future, she has a rich family history. And with the Sleeter clan, family is important.

Kevin Sleeter and his father, longtime New Jersey horseman Gerald Sleeter, train a small string of horses at Parx. They also have a handful of 3-year-olds at a local training center and six 2-year-olds preparing to come to the track.

“Me and my dad work side by side every day,” said Kevin, 53.

The heart of the Sleeter operation is Gerald’s farm in Blackwood, N.J., which is home to about 20 broodmares and babies. The bulk of the work there falls to Kevin’s brothers, Kurt and Kasey.

Love Came to Town is part of the family. She is owned, trained, and was bred by Kevin, as were her dam, the $700,000 winner Talkin About Love, and her granddam, the stakes-winning She’s Jane. Kevin Sleeter owned the dam of She’s Jane, a claiming runner named Sharon’s Stunning.

Love Came to Town’s racing career is off to a promising start. In her debut, she finished second to Miss Holicong, who came back to win an allowance race. In her second and most recent start, Love Came to Town won a maiden race by four lengths over Jammin with Jamie, who also won next time out. Love Came to Town and Jammin with Jamie will square off again Sunday.

“Her ma was a graded stakes winner,” Kevin Sleeter said of Love Came to Town. “She won the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks. She also won the Maryland Million Ladies on grass. She never ran on Poly, but she won on dirt, turf, and in the mud.”

In all, Talkin About Love won 9 of 38 starts between 2006 and 2010. Love Came to Town is her first foal.

“I think she is identical to her mother, she’s just a different color,” Sleeter said. “Her mom is chestnut, and she’s bay like her father, Medallist.”

Love Came to Town hasn’t started in 12 weeks because two of her races were canceled due to weather conditions. She comes into Sunday’s race off four workouts, including three five-furlong bullets.

“She loves to train, she keeps herself fit,” Sleeter said. “She goes two miles every day because that’s what she wants to do. We’ve never set her down in any of those works. Her mom loved to train, too. She was a handful.”

Sleeter is looking forward to the opening of Monmouth Park in May. Love Came to Town will have New Jersey-bred allowance conditions coming into the meet, and a long-term goal is the Eleven North, a sprint for statebred fillies and mares Sept. 12.

That handicap holds special meaning for the Sleeter family, as Gerald trained Eleven North, a winner of 16 of 40 starts and $459,000 between 1996 and 2001.