Monmouth Park: Crystal Conning trades microphone for silks

The two racetrack jobs that Crystal Conning has can be broken down simply. In one, her goal is to pick winners. In the other, it is to ride them.

Her professional worlds collide Monday when the Monmouth Park paddock analyst rides Like a Saltshaker in the second race at the Jersey Shore track in between TV appearances.

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“I think it’s going to be cool to ride a race at Monmouth Park,” said Conning, who hails from Melbourne, Australia. “I’ve been here three summers working and galloping horses in the mornings. I’m looking forward to riding on my home surface for the first time.”

Conning has been riding sporadically at Parx and in March rode two races at Camarero in Puerto Rico. She has won two races from 23 mounts this year with her most recent victory coming aboard Like a Saltshaker on Feb. 25 at Parx. Overall, Conning has 76 career wins, the majority coming at Turf Paradise and Canterbury Downs.

These days she spends her weekends giving her insight to fans on the day’s Monmouth Park races while scrambling for mounts Monday through Friday.

Conning said she will give the analysis of Monday’s second race, saying, “I have to pick myself.” Then she will make a dash to change into silks.

“I’ll do the TV show, run into the changing room, get the silks on and go out and ride. Then I’ll come back and do the analysis on the rest of the races,” she said.

Conning, 33, said she has pulled this double duty previously, having done so when she rode regularly at Canterbury Park.

“I’ll just talk about my horse on Monday,” she said. “I did something similar in Minnesota at Canterbury. I did the TV analysis and then rode the card the same day. I did that a couple of times.”

Conning will be riding for trainer Tom Clark and Flurry Racing Stable, which is owned by Staton Flurry. The $25,000 allowance she will be riding in will be at six furlongs.

She said she has thought about finally shaking the riding bug but is not quite ready to give it up yet.

“I’ve tried. I just can’t stop,” she said.

The biggest challenge Conning faces is securing mounts more consistently.

“It’s difficult from a fitness perspective and timing,” she said. “The more you ride, the better you are going to be. It’s that cycle of people not wanting to give you an opportunity, because you’re not riding a lot, but how do you ride a lot if you are not getting the opportunities?

“Then you wind up riding a lot of 30-1 shots, and people don’t think you are any good. Those are the only chances you get sometimes. You really need that one horse who jumps up and makes you look good.”

Conning, an Olympic-level event rider in Australia who started competing in Thoroughbred races there in 2015, used the term “veteran horse” to characterize Like a Saltshaker.

“He’s easy to ride. He knows the drill,” she said.

The 7-year-old gelding has a 42: 18-9-1 record with earnings of $604,761.