The 7-year-old male, named Zaster, was dropped at Ophir at 2 a.m. on Friday and transported back to Anchorage. He was being treated for signs of pneumonia. The exact location of his death was not known.

Iditarod race marshal Mark Nordman said a necropsy performed Saturday determined that aspiration pneumonia was the likely cause of death.

Stetson, a rookie from Duluth, Minn., scratched at 4 p.m. Saturday in Cripple, a checkpoint about 450 miles into the race. He said the loss of Zaster and concern over sick dogs in his team prompted him to drop out.

Where is Cripple anyway?

Four-time champion Jeff King, who is dueling with Lance Mackey for first place, can easily understand how Kasilof veteran Paul Gerbardt got lost near the checkpoint of Cripple on Wednesday.

King referred to Cripple -- a collection of tents plopped down in the middle of the wilderness about halfway on the 1,100-mile journey to Nome -- as a moveable checkpoint. That's because it turned out to be about 20 miles farther from the previous checkpoint of Ophir than it was two years ago, the last time mushers took the northern route.

Paul Gephardt, the two-time Iditarod runner-up from Kasilof, got so worried he'd missed the Cripple checkpoint that he turned around -- only to run into DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow who passed him and went on to collect the halfway prize. He ended up wasting, by his estimation, about six hours.

"It was bizarre,'' King said. "It was like the revolving scenery of a cartoon.

"We watch our watch. I knew my time from Takotna to Cripple in 2006. I knew it was going to be as fast. I didn't think it was going to be two hours slower.

"After one hour I was like, I didn't pass it, did I?"

Down to 10 dogs, Ryan Redington scratches in Ruby

Ryan Redington, the 25-year-old grandson of race founder Joe Redington, scratched Saturday in Ruby.

The Wasilla musher was running 48th and was down to 10 dogs that were not performing well, he told the Iditarod Trail Committee.

Redington was 18th last year, his best finish in four Iditarods.

-- By Kevin Klott and staff reports