"It's post time at Heinold Downs!" announces Roy Holding, and a crowd of more than 1,000 at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield presses in eagerly against the restraining ropes around the track. In the paddock, the racers snort and squeal in anticipation. "Don't blink," warns Holding, "or you may miss the race."
He's not far wrong, for this is pig racing, run on an 85-ft. sawdust oval track, and the porkers do not dawdle: the swiftest swine cross the finish line in 5 or 6 sec. In his best Kentucky Derby style, Holding calls the race: "Pigmalion's first out of...
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