I'm not new to the game but have recently been getting a lot more involved and intense with it. I've been trying to save time as I'm sort of an OCD type person that will end up with 200 horses in order to find the best one xD But as I've gotten better and better horses I'm trying to weed out any horses that right away are bad. Is there a fair judge of that based on skills alone? Or have people had top rated horses with mid to low potential?? I know I've had a few G2 winners with mid to low potential, but I'm not really trying to mess around with anything below G2 winners at this point lol

That can solely depends on the bloodline and what hidden stats if you are in league mode presents.

In terms of the potential bar you can get a 80%+ who can be world class in game. But on the flip side you can get a higher potential and they can be average.