Betting on the Kentucky Derby could turn out to be very interesting. The undefeated Justify very likely made himself the favorite with his dazzling victory over Bolt d’Oro in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, but there are perhaps a half-dozen colts who could legitimately start at single-digit odds. Grade 1 Florida Derby winner Audible, Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes winner Good Magic, Grade 2 Wood Memorial winner Vino Rosso, Group 1 UAE Derby winner Mendelssohn, Bolt d’Oro, and whoever wins this week’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby all have legitimate form that should attract bettors on Derby Day. Two sires account for four of those six colts, and there are some interesting pedigree similarities within the two sets of paternal half-siblings. Good Magic, the champion 2-year-old male of 2017, and Vino Rosso are both sons of dual Horse of the Year Curlin, while Justify and Mendelssohn are both from the penultimate crop of the late, much-lamented 2007 Florida Derby winner Scat Daddy. By Smart Strike out of Sherriff’s Deputy, by Deputy Minister, Curlin was, of course, one of the two or three best American racehorses of the first decade of the 21st century, winning 11 of 16 starts, including the 2007 Preakness and Breeders’ Cup Classic and the 2008 Dubai World Cup, and earning a then-record $10,501,800. Retired to Lane’s End in 2009, his conformation was not universally admired by breeders, and he did not attract the early patronage his record deserved. A big, rather plain, almost coarse individual whose front legs are less than perfect, his first yearlings were not well received on the market. :: Get breeding & sales news, Beyer info, and more delivered right to your email! Curlin sired Belmont Stakes and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap winner Palace Malice (out of Palace Rumor, by Royal Anthem) and not much else in his first crop, and it was really not until champion Stellar Wind (Evening Star, by Malibu Moon) and Preakness winner Exaggerator (Dawn Raid, by Vindication) came along in his third and fourth crops that his stud career took off. By that time, he had moved to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, and he has now sired 42 black-type winners, including eight Grade 1 winners. Good Magic (Glinda the Good, by Hard Spun) is out of a Danzig-line mare and Vino Rosso (Mythical Bride, by Street Cry) from a Mr. Prospector line dam, but their internal pedigrees are strikingly similar. Both are inbred 3x4 to Mr. Prospector, and both carry three crosses of Danzig’s sire, Northern Dancer, within the first six generations. Two of Vino Rosso’s Northern Dancer crosses come through his grandson Deputy Minister, who also appears 3x4 in Vino Rosso’s pedigree, making him one of the more inbred colts in the Derby field with an inbreeding coefficient of 3.37 percent. Although he won the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at 2, the 2007 Florida Derby proved to be the peak of Scat Daddy’s racing career, and he broke down next time out in the Kentucky Derby. By the unpopular stallion Johannesburg out of Love Style, by Mr. Prospector, breeders were not enthused about his pedigree, but physical inspection revealed an impressive specimen of the Thoroughbred. Big, extremely powerful, balanced, and correct, Scat Daddy passed on those attributes to his offspring, siring Grade 1 winner Lady of Shamrock (Burning Issue, by Blushing John), Grade 2 winner Handsome Mike (Classic Strike, by Smart Strike), and Group 2 winner Daddy Long Legs (Dreamy Maiden, by Meadowlake). His stud career took flight from there, with Grade 1 and Group 1 winners all over the world, including European highweights Lady Aurelia (D’Wildcat Speed, by Forest Wildcat), Caravaggio (Mekko Hotke, by Holy Bull), and No Nay Never (Cats Eye Witness, by Elusive Quality), as well as 10 Chilean champions sired on annual visits to that country, where he led the sire list from 2013-16. The pedigree of Justify (Stage Magic, by Ghostzapper) is right in the mainstream of contemporary American breeding, with four crosses of both Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer in the first six generations, but it is unusual in that two of those Northern Dancer crosses are through his best son Nijinsky II, 4x5, and two of the Mr. Prospectors are through the full sisters Yarn and Preach, both by Mr. Prospector out of Narrate, by Hones Pleasure. Mendelssohn’s pedigree is at once both less and even more familiar. His broodmare sire, Tricky Creek, is rarely encountered in high-class pedigrees, and Stop the Music and One for All, sires of his next two dams also are relatively rare factors. Nevertheless, Mendelssohn, like Justify, is inbred to Nijinsky II, 4x5 through Scat Daddy’s second dam, Likeable Style, and Tricky Creek’s second dam, Far Beyond. And despite those unusual elements in his pedigree, Mendelssohn is half-brother to the great racemare Beholder as well as to Into Mischief, sire of Florida Derby winner Audible, making his pedigree perhaps the most familiar, and attractive, of any current 3-year-old.