Laurin sends out an improving Zipping

MIAMI – When Zipping goes postward as one of the favorite’s in Thursday’s $44,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park West, some handicappers may wonder if that’s “the” Roger Laurin, of Chief’s Crown fame, listed as both trainer and breeder.

Well, the answer is yes. More than three decades after sending out Chief’s Crown to win the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and to win both the 1985 Travers and Marlboro Cup, Laurin, son of the legendary Lucien Laurin, is still at it, running a modest breeding and training operation both from his home in Ocala, Fla., and the Palm Meadows training center where his son Robert attends to the horses.

Zipping, a 3-year-old son of Adios Charlie, has really come into his own of late, posting back-to-back top Beyer Speed Figures of 88 winning an allowance race Aug. 18 and finishing second just 11 days ago behind the odds-on Kroy in the Bear’s Den Stakes, both at Gulfstream Park. Zipping’s victory was the lone tally from just 13 starts in 2017 for the 82-year-old Laurin, who currently has just two horses in training.

“His races at 2 were pretty good, but then I had to stop on him for a while and it took him a long time to come back,” said Laurin, who was elected into the Canadian Hall of Fame in 2015. “But it looks like he’s really starting to turn into a pretty nice-looking colt, one who has his future in front of him.”

Zipping won his maiden at 2 on turf and had done all his racing this season on grass until switching to the main track successfully to defeat optional-claiming foes during the summer.

“He’s one of the few horses I’ve trained who can run well either way, turf or dirt, which is a nice option to have, especially down here,” Laurin said. “He ran into a really good horse last time. It’s a little quick to bring him back, but his races don’t seem to take too much out of him, and he’s been jumping up and down in his stall. And if they’re going to be doing that, they might as well be doing it in the afternoon, not the morning.”

Laurin said he also has a couple of nice-looking 2-year-old fillies to look forward to down the road, including a full sister to Zipping who he says is “already bigger than him.”

“I still enjoy getting up early and doing this, although I must admit some mornings more so than others,” Laurin said. “The biggest difference I see in the business now than back in my day is having one guy training 200 or 300 horses. We didn’t have anybody like that 40 or 50 years ago.”

Zipping will face just four foes Thursday going a mile on the dirt. Jaiden’s Best and Mal Guapo both bring two-race winning streaks while sporting similar front-running styles.

Piloting, who also used to do his best when on the lead but came from far back to finish third on the turf in his latest start, and Gray Beau complete the compact but well-matched field.