By Joe Hartmann for Florida Harness Racing

As a racehorse, Amethyst was virtually unbeatable against Florida-bred competition and the divisional champion at both 2 and 3-years-old. As a mare, she proved her worth outside of Florida winning the Damsel Series at Woodbine as a 4-year-old while setting her lifetime mark of 1:51.4 and earning more than $200,000.

Just three years later, she is already the proud mom of a stakes winning freshman.

Saturday night at the Isle of Capri at Pompano Park, Diamond Howard, the 2-year-old gelded son of Mannart Howard, out of the Miami Mogul mare Amethyst, took the first step toward the $100,000 championship bonus as he held off half brother Red Hot Howard to capture the $12,000 final of the Sunshine State Stakes for freshman colts & geldings.

Both freshman pacers are trained by Michele Lorenzo and owned by her husband Rod. Diamond Howard is also owned by longtime Lorenzo partner Souren Hovsepian while Red Hot Howard is owned by Michele.

“I told Bruce (Ranger) before the race, I thought he had the better horse (Red Hot Howard) and he actually raced the better of the two. But Wally (Walter Ross Jr.) got great early position and got the much better trip.”

The margin of victory between the half brothers was just a length with Cracker Pullet was a half length back in third.

“He does not know how fast he really is,” Wally Ross Jr. said after the race. “When you ask him to go, he goes into another gear. We got a great trip and he made the beast of it.”

Just 20 minutes later, an older brother of the pair of 2-year-olds continued his dominance of the sophomore class.

Storming Howard, the 3-year-old gelded son of Mannart Howard out of the Walton Hanover mare Keriann Hanover, scored his eighth victory and fifth in a row in 2009 with a convincing 3-1/4 length win with a 1:53.2 new lifetime mark as he captured the $12,000 Sunshine State Stakes for 3-year-olds.

“He has filled out and gotten a bit bigger,” Rod Lorenzo said. “Right now he is on cruise control.”

Another son of the hot sire Famously took a step toward the $100,000 bonus earlier on the card.

Be Famous, a 2-year-old colt by Famously, out of the Malabar Man mare Celebrity Descent, scored an impressive victory in the $12,000 2-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot. I’ll Muscle Y’all was second while Ron Stoppable was third.

Be Famous’ half sister, Pocohontas Fame, won the freshman filly trot final Friday night. Both are owned by Amante Standardbreds.

In the $12,000 Sunshine State Stakes sophomore colt & gelding trot, trainer Linda Kakaley and Sophia Valkanoff’s Whogoinwhosstayin won his 19th race in 26 life starts with a 1:58.2 easy win despite making a break at the gate.