Back when I was a newby in SoCal, there was a local stallion named Windsor Ruler. He made only one lifetime start and finished off the board. He had been a promising 2yo but had gotten hurt; his people had believed enough in him to try to bring him back at 4, but he was re-injured in his come-back race. While I was out there, he sired two G1-type winners - Solar Salute (Santa Anita Derby) and Opening Bid (Santa Susana=SA Oaks).
Point is, very lightly-raced horses may have been cut out to be good ones but never got the chance to show it on the track for one or another reason, while retaining the genetic 'good stuff.' Not every lightly raced horse, of course. However one has to leave oneself open to the possibility that such a stallion could sire a really good runner, seemly out of the blue.
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