The two racetrack jobs that Crystal Conning currently has can be broken down simply. In one, her goal is to pick winners. In the other, it's to ride them.
On Monday, her professional worlds will collide when the Monmouth Park paddock analyst rides Like a Saltshaker (Peace and Justice) in the second race at the Jersey Shore track in between TV appearances.
“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 jockeyed 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 at Parx Feb. 25.
Overall, Conning has 76 career wins, the majority coming at Turf Paradise and Canterbury Park.
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.
She said she will give the analysis of Monday's second race–“I have to pick myself,” she said–and then 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.
“I'll just talk about my horse on Monday [in her second race analysis],” 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 owner Flurry Racing Stable. She said she has thought about finally shaking the riding “bug” but isn't quite ready to give it up yet.
“I've tried. I just can't stop,” she said.
The biggest challenge she faces is securing more consistent mounts.
“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, characterized Like a Saltshaker as “a veteran horse.”
“He's easy to ride. He knows the drill,” she said.
The 7-year-old gelding has 18 wins and nine seconds from 42 career starts.
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