Michael McCarthy says he is having the best year of his training career because good horses have intersected with kind fortune. So, he figures, if you’re walking around lucky, why not go out and buy a lottery ticket?To that end, McCarthy will tee up three of his troops on Saturday at Santa Anita in three high-profile Grade 1 events as part of a coast-to-coast weekend of salty Breeders’ Cup preps. None of them will be remotely favored, but all three will leave the starting gates at the same time as the others, which, in horse racing, is the point of the exercise. Let the chips fall.“We’re kind of on the outside looking in,” McCarthy said as entries were revealed on Wednesday. “But the horses are doing well, and these are the opportunities you look for.”McCarthy and his crew will be swinging for the fences first in the Chandelier Stakes with the 2-year-old filly Vibrance, followed by 3-year-old Paved taking on her elders in the Rodeo Drive, and then The Lieutenant, a son of Street Sense, reaching for the stars in the Awesome Again.Vibrance is the only filly in the 1 1/16-mile Chandelier field to have both run and won around two turns. Paved, who breaks from the rail in the 10-furlong Rodeo Drive, won a maiden race and the Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes over the Santa Anita grass earlier this year. As for The Lieutenant, he has the distinction of being stomped in races this year by the nation’s two best older runners: Diversify, who heads the field for the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday, and Accelerate, favored in the Awesome Again. McCarthy had to laugh.“So we’ve got that going for us,” he said.As a homegrown Southern Californian, McCarthy lives for the idea of winning major races at a place like Santa Anita. When stable star City of Light ran off with the opening-day Malibu Stakes last winter, the trainer was reduced to tears of pride and delight as he choked his way through post-race interviews.It turned out to be more than a passing moment. City of Light went on to take the Grade 1 Triple Bend at Santa Anita, then earned a national following by defeating Santa Anita Handicap winner Accelerate in the Oaklawn Handicap. In his most recent start, City of Light came off a foot bruise and a three-month break to finish second in the Forego at Saratoga, a race that may have disappointed his backers at 4-5 but did nothing to dampen his trainer’s adoration. They are pointing for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.“He’s doing so well right now he can barely stand himself,” McCarthy said. “Four more works before he runs.”Both City of Light and Paved are by Quality Road, while Vibrance was sired by Violence. McCarthy’s association with such talent is hardly accidental, since he was an assistant to Todd Pletcher when their powerful stable was home to both stallions during their racing careers.Of Vibrance, McCarthy said: “She’s one of the prettiest 2-year-olds on the grounds for sure, and there’s plenty of her. She has the look of her sire, and the attitude of her damsire, Dynaformer, which means she is resilient and can be headstrong at times.“Obviously it’s a very tough spot Saturday, with five other very good fillies in there. So we’ll get a pretty good idea of where we stand.”McCarthy thought he knew where he stood with Paved when she left California in July to try the Belmont Oaks. She ended up far back early in that mile and a quarter race, then came with a wide run to no avail, finishing eighth in a cluster at the end.“I was very excited going in, and I still thought she ran a very respectable race, beaten only 3 3/4 lengths,” McCarthy said. “After that, I thought she’d really get a big piece of it in the Del Mar Oaks. She had an easy trip, but from the three-eighths pole to the wire she never really got out of third gear.”McCarthy stared at Paved long and hard, but she wasn’t talking.“I have no reason to think she’s any different today than she was eight weeks ago before going to Belmont,” the trainer concluded.The Lieutenant, a four-time winner, was laboring in relative anonymity, making a good living with a few stakes placings and a Grade 3 score, and then along came his younger half-brother Justify to blow the family’s cover. In the wake of Justify’s Triple Crown, McCarthy sent The Lieutenant to Belmont for the Suburban and was proud of his second at 34-1, trailing Diversify by 6 1/2 lengths. After that, The Lieutenant was among the roadkill in Accelerate’s Pacific Classic, and now he is back for more in an Awesome Again that features not only Accelerate, but also the return of 2017 champion 3-year-old West Coast. “He’s at the mercy of his conditions here in California, which is that he basically has none,” McCarthy said. “So here we are.”If The Lieutenant hits the board, or one of his stablemates strikes gold, look for McCarthy wear his heart on his sleeve.“I’m passionate about what I do,” he said. “I’m happy for my horses, my owners, and our crew. It would be nice if we get to be a little emotional on Saturday.”