Ray Redington Jr. in Anvik. (Bob Hallinen)

Friday, 9:10 p.m. update
Less than three hours separated first from 10th place as a rollicking crowd of mushers headed up the Yukon River into a 15 mph headwind Friday night.

Wondering who’s who as the mushers left Grayling?

• Leader: Hugh Neff of Tok left at 4:12 p.m. For years, Neff has run both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest without a win. “That’s the funny part about being Hugh Neff,” he told ADN reporter Kyle Hopkins. “Everybody knows me. Everybody knows that I’m mister has-to-race-more-than-anybody-else every year. But I’ve never won anything.”

• Overdue: John Baker of Kotzebue, second, out at 4:17 p.m. Baker has finished all 15 of his Iditarods as high as third without a victory. With a hardy team of 13 dogs, vast experience racing in westerm Alaska and one of the fastest times between Anvik and Grayling, might this be his time?

• The King: Lance Mackey of Fairbanks, third, out at 4:50 p.m. Four-time defending champion. Cancer survivor. Nuff said.

• Great Genes: Ray Redington, Jr. of Wasilla, fourth, out at 5:13 p.m. Could Ray do something his famous grandfather never accomplished, win the race to Nome?

• Graybeard: Sonny Lindner of Fairbanks, fifth, out at 5:54 p.m. The 61-year-old grandfather is so old he not only remembers the first Yukon Quest, he won it. Posted the fastest speed between Anvik and Grayling of any frontrunner.

• Remember Libby and Susan?: Jessie Royer of Fairbanks, sixth, out at 6:39 p.m. The 2001 rookie of the year leads a sizeable group of six women among the top-26 mushers that includes DeeDee Jonrowe (14th), Aliy Zirkle (17th), Michelle Phillips (20th), Karin Hendrickson (24th) and Judy Currier (26th). Can any of them win? Big problem: Royer still needs to take her eight-hour layover on the Yukon.

• Nose To The Grindstone: Sebastian Schnuelle of Whitehorse, seventh, out at 6:48 p.m. The Yukon Quest runner-up and former Iditarod runner-up has a team he calls “elderly” that can’t exceed 7 mph. But when the pulling gets tough, they start rolling.

• Top 10?: Sven Haltmann of Fairbanks, eighth, out at 6:53 p.m. After finishing 17th last year, he’s eying a bigger prize. Like Royer, though, he still needs to take his Yukon rest.

• Killer Kick: Ramey Smyth of Willow, ninth, out at 7:05 p.m. Nobody doubts Smyth’s closing ability. After all, he’s had the fastest Safety-to-Nome time in a half-dozen races. Can he be in position to make it a winning kick?

• Confident Canadian: Hans Gatt of Whitehorse, 10th, out at 7:07 p.m. Gatt came close last year, just behind Lance Mackey a few weeks after winning the Yukon Quest. But this year’s Quest left him with nasty frostbite.

Expect the bunched pack to sort itself out to contenders and pretenders by the time racers leave the Yukon River at Kaltag and start a 90-mile portage to Unalakleet on the Norton Sound coast.

Baker makes strong push toward front out of Grayling

Friday, 6:10 p.m. update

John Baker drives his team along the Yukon River after leaving Anvik Friday, March 11. (Bob Hallinen)

Kotzebue’s John Baker, one of the finest racers never to have won an Iditarod, thrust himself into the tussle for first place Friday night, pulling out of Grayling just five minutes behind race leader Hugh Neff.

Baker has twice finished third in his 15 Iditarods, but never better. He was a threat to win last year, but got lost in a remote section of trail near Cripple and lost about six hours, eventually recovering to finish fifth.

This year he started at a measured pace, but gradually moved up. His speed from Anvik to Grayling on the Yukon River was 0.6 mph faster than Neff’s, a decent margin in a slow-moving sport.

Two other contenders followed Baker out of Grayling — four-time defending champion Lance Mackey of Fairbanks left at 4:50 p.m., some 33 minutes behind Baker. Mackey had nine dogs in harness.

And Ray Redington Jr. of Wasilla was putting together the race of his life. Redington was fourth out, 23 minutes behind Mackey. In nine Iditarods, the 35-year-old grandson of race founder Joe Redington Sr. has never placed in the top 10.

Buser's nap attacks on trail costs him lead

Friday, 2:15 p.m. update

The ADN's Kyle Hopkins and Bob Hallinen are in Anvik, where Hugh Neff just hit the Yukon River and mushers seem to be talking about two things: the unexpectedly good trail from Iditarod to the Yukon River, and Martin Buser's nap attacks.

Buser said he kept nodding off during the 25-mile run from Shageluk to Anvik.

"He looked like a bobblehead," Mackey told Kyle. Mackey said he shouted to Buser as he approached him, yelling at him to wake up.

The naps proved costly. While most made the run from Shageluk to Anvik in 2.5 to 3.5 hours, Buser needed four.

Once in the lead by 90 minutes, he now trails by that much. Mackey said Buser's is out of contention for a win, in his opinion.

Mackey sounds like he's getting his gameface on, even though he's down to nine dogs.

He was the third driver to reach Anvik, 47 minutes behind Hugh Neff, who got there first. Kyle heard Mackey ask Neff to let him know when he plans to leave.

"I want to know so I can track you down," Mackey said.

Neff said the "funky yuppy food" dinner and cash he won as the first musher to arrive in the village is the first award he's ever won. In any sport.

"That's the funny part about being Hugh Neff," he said. "Everybody knows me. Everybody knows that I'm mister has-to-race-more-than-anybody-else every year. But I've never won anything."

Too bad the mandatory layover isn't 13 hours long instead of eight, he said. It would have been nice to burn some more daylight before returning to the trail.

Among the frontrunners, only Sebastian Schnuelle and Hans Gatt kept moving after reaching Anvik. Schnuelle reached Grayling, 18 miles away, at 10:48 this morning and Gatt arrived at 11:07. Both are still there, so it's likely they'll settle in for an eight-hour layover.

Gatt, who rested his team longer than most in Shageluk, the checkpoint before Anvik, made the run to Grayling much faster than Schnuelle. Gatt did it in 2 hours, 20 minutes and Schnuelle needed 2:52.

Meanwhile, Kyle reports that every musher he's talked to says the 90 miles of trail between Iditarod and Anvik were surprisingly good. Reports of deep snow left racers expecting much worse.

Schnuelle heads up the Yukon as most front-runners rest

Friday, 11:30 a.m. update

Most of the iditarod's front-runners are taking eight-hour layovers in Anvik, including Hugh Neff, who used part of the time to savor a seven-course meal prepared for him by chefs of the Millennium Alaskan Hotel.

As the first musher to reach the Yukon River early this morning, Neff won the meal and $3,500 in one-dollar bills, served to him on a goldpan.

While eating, the Tok musher told the Iditarod Insider his motto for the race.

"My whole key for this race, I wrote it right here," he said, removing his ballcap and showing the bottom of the cap's bill, where the word "focus" was written in big black letters. "Focus, just focus. You know how scatterbrained and goofy I am, always just wanting to have fun. I just gotta focus."

Sebastian Schnuelle, seventh to arrive in Anvik, more than two hours behind Neff, was among those who didn't stick around in Anvik. He left after just four minutes at the checkpoint, telling the Iditarod Insider the only reason he didn't stay longer is he's low on food and booties. He didn't say, but he probably has a food drop awaiting him 18 miles away in Grayling.

Hans Gatt, eighth to arrive in Anvik and second to leave, had the fastest time on the 25-mile trip from Shageluk to Anvik. He did it in 2 hours, 20 minutes, more than 30 minutes faster than anyone else. He told the Iditarod Insider that his dogs enjoyed a long rest in Shageluk, a break Gatt was compelled to take to nurse some tired and sore feet on his team.

Eighth-place Ramey Smyth did the run from Shageluk in 3:22 and looked impressive coming in, driving an eager team of 15 dogs that didn't look ready to stop.

"Ramey Smyth has probably the most powerful-looking team coming in here," Iditarod Insider analyst Bruce Lee said in a video taped in Anvik. "It took two or three people just to get 'em parked. Ramey's never been here with a team this fresh."

Lee said that in recent years, the race has been a two- or three-man affair by the time leaders hit the Yukon. This year, all nine of those into Anvik could bid for the victory.

"This is the best front-end of the race I've ever seen," Lee said.

Among those still solidly in the front end of things is Lance Mackey, who is down to nine dogs but was the third driver to reach Anvik.

"Making the most of what you've got, right?" someone asked Mackey in video shot by the Iditarod Insider.

"I've been doing that all my life," Mackey replied. "This is nothing new."

Ellen Halverson rubs pink ointment onto her sled dog's feet at the Takotna checkpoint (Bob Hallinen)

Now it's Schnuelle in the lead

Friday, 8:30 a.m. update --

The Iditarod has a new leader.

Though he's running at a slower pace than several others who beat him to the first checkpoint on the Yukon River, Sebastian Schnuelle grabbed the lead by hitting the trail four minutes after he arrived in Anvik this morning.

Schnuelle reached Anvik at 7:52 -- more than two hours after Hugh Neff claimed the prize for being the first musher to reach the Yukon -- and took off at 7:56.

The next checkpoint is 18 miles ahead in Grayling.

Schnuelle's run time from Shageluk to Anvik, a 25-mile stretch, was 3 hours, 44 minutes. Neff made the trip in 3:21.

Buser slips to 5th

Friday, 8 a.m. update --
Martin Buser's speedy pace in the Iditarod has slowed.

The Big Lake musher and four-time champion was the fifth to reach Anvik this morning, arriving at 6:51 with 14 dogs.

The race leader on Wednesday and for much of Thursday, Buser trails current leader Hugh Neff of Tok by 85 minutes.

That's almost a 3-hour turnaround over the 180 miles of trail since Ophir. Buser was the first into Ophir on Wednesday, getting there 90 minutes ahead of Neff, who was the second to reach that checkpoint.

This morning, Buser hit Anvik 34 minutes after fourth-place Ray Redington Jr. Of the five mushers who have reached the checkpoint that begins a 148-mile stretch on the Yukon River, Buser had the slowest run from Shageluk by more than 30 minutes.

Of course, it's possible Buser stopped along the trail for a bit to rest his dogs.

Neff had the fastest time on the 25-mile run -- 3 hours, 21 minutes. Lance Mackey (third place) was next fastest at 3:25. Redington made it in 3:28, John Baker (second place) in 3:30 and Buser in 4:02.

Sonny Lindner, the 61-year-old whose best finish came 30 years ago when he claimed second place in the 1981, arrived at 7:30 a.m. in sixth place.

Neff hits the Yukon with Baker close behind

Day 6: Friday, 6 a.m. update --

Hugh Neff and a team of 12 sled dogs reached the Yukon River village of Anvik at 5:26 this morning, claiming $3,500, a seven-course gourmet meal and the lead of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

John Baker arrived in second place at 5:43.

The pair hail from opposite ends of Alaska. Neff is from Tok, near the Canadian border, and Baker is from Kotzebue on the coast of northwestern Alaska.

Pulling in with nine dogs, at 6:13 a.m., was Lance Mackey.

Neff led the race out of Shageluk, 25 miles before the river. He left there at 2:05, seven minutes ahead of Baker.

He expanded his lead over Baker to 17 minutes on the 25-mile run to Anvik.

For being the first musher to reach the Yukon, Neff wins a seven-course meal that will be prepared on campstoves by chefs from the Millennium Alaskan Hotel, which sponsors the checkpoint prize. The $3,500 is considered the after-dinner mint to the meal, presented on a goldpan.

A pair of mushers vying for a record-tying fifth championship left Shageluk in third and fourth place, separated by just two minutes. Mackey left at 2:46 and Martin Buser followed at 2:48.

Mushers spend the next 148 miles on the Yukon. The finish line in Nome is 507 miles away.