His career in Thoroughbred horse racing began in 1929 as a jockey at Blue Bonnets Raceway in Montreal, Quebec.
Under Lucien Laurin, Riva Ridge, with fellow Canadian jockey Ron Turcotte in the saddle, won the 1972 Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.
For 1972, Lucien Laurin was named the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Eclipse Award winner as North America's most outstanding trainer.
However, despite this success, Laurin is best known as the trainer of Secretariat who was voted the 1972 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, and the 1972 and 1973 American Horse of the Year and who, in 1973, became the first Triple Crown winner in twenty-five years and the horse ranked #2 in the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century.
Lucien Laurin retired from racing a second time in 1976, but returned in 1983 as trainer and part owner of Evergreen Stable.