Three-time and defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey is among three dozen mushers entered in the Sheep Mountain 150, which kicks off the sled-dog racing season next month -- if snow eventually falls in Southcentral. Sheep Mountain limits its field to 50 mushers, and 41 have already signed up, including such Iditarod veterans as:

• Jessica Hendricks, the defending champion and runner-up in 2007.

• Aliy Zirkle and her husband Allen Moore of Two Rivers. Zirkle, the 2000 Yukon Quest champion, has finished nine Iditarods, including a 17th-place finish in March. Moore was the runner-up at Sheep Mountain last year, six minutes behind Hendricks.

• Ray Redington, Jr., the grandson of Joe Redington, Sr., who was 20th in the last Iditarod and 14th in 2002.

• Paul Gebhardt, the two-time Iditarod runner-up who finished 16th in the March race.

Mackey won Sheep Mountain the last time he entered in 2007. The winner's share of the purse is $1,750.