LOS ALAMITOS, CA—APRIL 19, 2014— It was a good night for the barn of trainer James Glenn Jr., as he saddled the winners of the two racing events for 2-year-olds on Saturday at Los Alamitos. The Separatist filly Take A Look gave the barn its first winner on the evening after she held off the Foose filly Bac In Front by a half-length in the fifth race at 300 yards.

Ridden by Eulices Gomez for owner Ed Allred, Take A Look covered the distance in :15.557 in her maiden victory.

The Allred-bred filly is out of the stakes winning mare Look Her Over and is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Once Over. The filly is not in the Kindergarten Futurity trials early next month, but she’s eligible for the Golden State Million Futurity and the Governor’s Cup Futurity.

“I’m really high on her,” Glenn said. “I thought we could win this race. She had :12.8 (drill) and came back with :12.4 (second drill). She got a little green out of the gate, but I think she has a lot left in her. She’s in some races so we’ll just sit on her and let her mature and I think she’ll run 350 easy.”

Glenn then saddled Steve Mickaelian’s Persuader to victory in the seventh of the night with the gelding posting a wire-to-wire victory by a 1¼ lengths and in time of :15.655. Gomez rode the Foose gelding to victory at odds of 14-1. Persuader was purchased for $50,000 at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale. He’s a half-brother to 2013 Ed Burke Million Futurity runner-up Unchangeable.

“We paid a lot of money for (Persuader),” Glenn began. “When we were hand opening him out of the gate he was really quick away from there. When we broke him out of the gate he got a little mentally rattled and he didn’t break as well. Raul Valenzuela qualified him and actually got a hold of him and kept him under control. I watched the work and I really liked it. I thought that if he could improve - and we are all about trying to improve from the first to the second and to the third - his heart would get big and he would run and that’s what he did.”

An owner for close to two decades, Mickaelian has also been involved in breeding over the years. However, one of his most memorable runners was a horse he claimed for $2,500 named Mr Clean Jeans. Sired by The Signature, the gelding won the California Claiming Stakes Challenge before winning the $50,000 final on AQHA Racing Challenge Night at Lone Star Park in 1998. Mr Clean Jeans won seven times in his 44-race career and Mickaelian would love nothing more than to his shiny, new runner make many winner’s circle appearances.

“We had looked at other horses in the sale, but they went higher that we were going to go for,” he said. “This horse came up and we got him. We have been so happy with him and we are excited.”

Mickaelian has entered Persuader in the Los Alamitos $1 million Cash Bonanza races that include the Ed Burke Million Futurity, Golden State Million Futurity and Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity.

“I had to give up food to put him there,” said Mickaelian jokingly. “I had a mare that raised seven foals. I am not doing the breeding, but I am still having a good time. When Mr Clean Jeans won at Lone Star Park that was only (my) third win. I got into the business for my father, who was in his 90s and passed away about a year and a half ago. The horses really kept him going for many years. The horses, they are special for that reason.”