After winning the last three Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Races and the only four Yukon Quests he's entered, no sane person can doubt Mackey's skills or dog savvy.

But how long can his reign atop the distance dog mushing world last? How long until someone else finds the secret balance to perfect breeding, boundless energy and dogged determination to knock off the champion?

"I guess that remains to be seen," Mackey, 39, said from Bethel before the start of the Kuskokwim 300 in January. "The way I feel now is that I still have a very competitive team.

"With all the obstacles we've had to overcome, that's a sure sign it's going to be a good (race season)."

It's no secret Mackey's health is his biggest weakness.

Most recently, the cancer survivor had major surgery on his right arm to get rid of a staph infection. He almost lost his arm, he said.

Also, the cartilage in both knees is gone. He will have both knee caps replaced this summer and until then will receive injections of synthetic cartilage and wear knee braces.

"I'm a medical nightmare," Mackey chuckled. "But the more beat up I get, the better I seem to do."

Mackey won the GinGin 200 in December and took third in the notoriously tough Kuskokwim 300. Mackey lead for much of the Kusko but a wrong turn close to the finish cost him.

Hoping to become the only musher to win four consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Races, Mackey's got a combination of young and veteran dogs on this year's main string. His veteran racing dogs -- Rev, Maple, Dred and Lippy -- are once again leading the charge.

The youthful enthusiasm of the canine rookies coupled with the solid foundation of reliable, trail-savvy dogs will make his team hard to beat, he said.

"If we do get beat, I'll be the first to congratulate them because I know what it will take," Mackey said. "This team is beatable, but it will take something major and I won't make excuses if I don't win.

"My team's willingness to please is going to make the difference."

And until someone does beat him in Iditarod, Mackey won't change a thing about how he trains his dogs.

"I'm not going to mix up nothing," he said.

Though he hasn't altered his dog handling methods, he's made one big change this season. For the first time, Mackey will use a seat on his sled. It's a small, fold-down bicycle seat, but a seat nonetheless.

While his adversaries have been reclining on custom-built, tail-dragger sleds during the long trek to Nome, Mackey has never had the urge to sit. He's still not sure if he will, but it's there just in case he needs a breather. Through January, Mackey hadn't taken advantage of it yet. Scant snow and rough trails weren't ideal conditions to take a seat.

The conditions forced Mackey to train smaller-than-usual teams on his four-wheeler longer than most seasons.

Mackey's handler Braxton Peterson, his son Cain Carter and his newest protégé Jamaican Newton Marshall are all training and racing out of Mackey's Comeback Kennel, north of Fairbanks. Last season, Canadian racer Hans Gatt mentored Marshall and coached him across the finish line of the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. This season, Mackey is trying to get Marshall under the burled arch in Nome.

"We pretty much had to start all over because the only things he knew were what Hans had taught him," Mackey said of Marshall's progress. "He's confident and enthusiastic and that makes him a pleasure to deal with."

Mackey has even let Marshall use his prized Iditarod dog, Larry.

Last year, Mackey helped Iditarod neophyte Harry Alexie get to Nome and, he said, a financial boost to the kennel isn't the only perk to helping rookies finish Iditarod.

"Logistically, all these teams going out to race can get really frustrating so having Harry here, and now Newton, has helped me become a lot more organized and patient," Mackey said.

Can his new-found patience carry him through March?

"I just want to get Iditarod under way before I fall apart."

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Jillian Rogers is a freelance writer based in Homer.