Hottest trotters in O.C.

COSTA MESA ? It was a blazing summer day at the Orange County Fair, and the crowd cheered and whistled in anticipation. Soapy Smith, the star racer of the afternoon, was about to attempt a daring feat on the track: jumping one hurdle, then another one twice as high.

To heighten dramatic tension, the announcer told the crowd to build its applause gradually ? just a little before the first hurdle, then pandemonium before the second one. The runner neared the starting line, and the announcer led the crowd in a countdown: “Three ? two ? one!” On the count of three, the gate opened, but Soapy got a little confused and wandered back to where he came from.

Soon, the announcer got everything straightened out, and the runner took off. He cleared the first hurdle and the applause grew louder, then louder still as the second one approached. It looked just short enough to clear, but instead Soapy plowed through the bottom of the hurdle, which doubled as a swinging door. Upon reaching the end of the track, he excitedly ate out of a trough as the crowd went wild.

Yes, Soapy Smith is a pig. On Friday, though, he was the undisputed star of the All-Alaskan Racing Pig tournament, held every summer at the fairgrounds.

“We should have expected something like this from Soapy Smith, folks,” announcer Darren Noll told the crowd after his star piglet busted through the second hurdle. “He is, after all, named after a con man.”

Every summer, Noll and his younger brother, Donald, bring their trained racing pigs to the fairgrounds and send them through five races a day. The brothers, who attend college and high school during most of the year, buy pigs from farmers and put them on the track at the age of one month. By the time the pigs turn two months, they’re ready to start their athletic careers ? which last about four months before they’re shipped back to the farm.

Twenty years ago, the Nolls’ parents started the racing pigs show in Fairbanks, Alaska. With the brothers now in charge, the show travels from fair to fair during the summer ? and the eight pigs, who sport clever names like Ham Solo and Hamikin Stywalker, get a brief moment in the spotlight.

“Their season is short,” Noll said. “Only about six months on the track before they retire, so we want to make the most of it.”

On Friday, the pigs competed in two rounds, with Soapy’s solo show in between. Another pig with a “Star Wars” name, Padme Hamadala, emerged as the champion of the 1 p.m. race.

Afterward, the Nolls invited fairgoers to pose for pictures with a pig ? though they had to settle for Yukon, one of the runners-up.

“He’s the only one who’s friendly,” Donald Noll explained. “The others, they just like racing. They don’t like to be out here.”

Aiding the Nolls in the race was Carla Lopez, 18, a college student from Downey who had never attended the fair before. Lopez volunteered to be the gate-opener in each round and also got to toss cookies into the cages to whet the pigs’ appetites.

“It was cute,” she said afterward. “It was nice to see all the little pigs.”