It was easy to make that argument after King, fresh off his 24-hour layover, pulled into Ophir at 5:06 p.m. Thursday with a full complement of 16 dogs in harness.

None of the 10 mushers who arrived before King have completed their layovers yet. If they take them in Cripple, the first to arrive, DeeDee Jonrowe, cannot resume racing until dawn Friday. By then, King could be well down the trail.

Plus King, relaxed and beaming with confidence, is moving. He took off from the Takotna checkpoint before dawn after completing his layover, quickly surging through Ophir and now into Cripple. He completed the rugged 60-mile run from Ophir to Cripple in nine hours, 26 minutes. Nobody in the group of 10 mushers camped out in Cripple did the same run faster than 11 hours, 10 minutes.

But King may soon have company. En route to Cripple is a pack of other seasoned mushers who, like King, have completed their layovers. Norwegian Kjetil Backen leads that group, which also includes defending champion Lance Mackey, three-time Yukon Quest champion Hans Gatt, five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson and Canadians Willian Kleedehn and Gerry Willomitzer. In fact, by 5:30 p.m., 19 mushers were on the trail between Ophir and Cripple.

"There's always 20 people who could win the race," said Allen Moore, the Copper Basin 300 champion who was running 49th in Takotna. "Everyone gambles. Rest in McGrath? Rest here? Or go up the trail? If the weather, which nobody can predict, works out and it cools off, it helps the people back here.

"You can never count Jeff (King), Lance (Mackey) and Martin (Buser) out. It's all a gamble as to what's going to work."