As of midafternoon, none of the nine frontrunners sitting in Ophir had given chase.

Gebhardt finished second to Lance Mackey in last year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and second to Montana musher Doug Swingley in 2000. He was third in 2006 behind Jeff King and Swingley. At age 51, he knows his chance of winning the Iditarod may be waning.

"You have to risk it all," he said in February. "I'm not going to fool anyone -- I'll be 52 at the end of the Iditarod, and nobody's ever won it at that age."

Unknown is whether Gebhardt was making a push Wednesday to put a gap between his team and the other frontrunners -- or if he merely left Ophir to rest his team a little farther down the trail and away from the checkpoint. The fact that Gebhardt stayed in the Ophir only 10 minutes suggests he's camped along the trail.

Four months ago, Gebhardt's cherished lead dog, Governor, died during the night -- and for this race he was trying 7-year-old Houston in lead. That move paid off handsomely in January when warm weather led to severe overflow during the Kuskokwim 300 in Bethel. Houston performed superbly in the wet conditions.

"He's been around a long time," Gebhardt said at the time, "and he saved my (butt) by me not have to lead him the last 10 miles (through the water). I was really proud of him for that."

When Gebhardt left the Ophir checkpoint at 12:52 p.m. today, 15 dogs remained in his team. More than three hours later, Hugh Neff of Skagway headed for Cripple at 4:18 p.m.

The pack of frontrunners gathered in Ophir included 2004 champion Mitch Seavey of Soldotna; four-time champion Martin Buser of Big Lake and his 18-year-old rookie son Rohn; and last year's third-place finisher, Zack Steer of Sheep Mountain.