This little piggy steals the show

Danette Goulet

FAIRGROUNDS -- He may be the smallest but he’s also the smartest.

Living up to his name, Sow Capone, the All Alaskan Racing Pig, steals

the prize at the end of the race at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

As the four pigs line up at the starting gate, little Sow Capone paws

at the starting gate just like the rest of them.

But when the gate swings open and his competitors take off around the

track, Capone ducks under the fence and across the track slipping back

under the fence stealing the coveted food.

“I liked it when they cheated,” said Ellen Weber, 7, with a

mischievous grin.

His trick was one of the favorites with the crowd, but it is not a

gimmick he was taught, said his trainers Marc Stamper and Holly

Standiford.

“He’s smart,” Standiford said. “He’s the runt of the litter and he’s

figured out that he won’t get any food.”

Stamper said he tried to break that habit repeatedly -- going so far

as to put up chicken wire, but still Sow Capone would nudge his way under

and across.

Audiences’ laughter finally convinced them to let Capone have his

impish way.

It’s not really too shocking considering that it does not take the

intensive training one might think to teach the young pigs to race.

“Training is really easy,” Stamper said. “They pretty much do this on

their own. It takes about three hours.”

That is not the only misconception Stamper cleared up. It seems there

is no such breed as an Alaskan Pig.

“The Alaskan Pig is a myth,” Stamper said. “The show started in

Alaska.”

Even without the pound of bacon prize this year, which in the past

delighted some while upsetting others, races have been packed, filling

the Newport Arena to its 1,100 capacity.