Jeff King led the Iditarod pack out of Galena at 8:47 p.m. Friday, taking a 1 hour, 28 minute lead over two-time defending champion Lance Mackey.

Mackey pulled out of the checkpoint at 10:15 p.m. Five minutes later, Hugh Neff hit the trail at 10:20 p.m.

Following Neff were Mitch Seavey at 11:42 p.m., Hans Gatt at 11:55 p.m. and Sonny Lindner at 2:05 a.m.

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Well-fed and well-rested, Jeff King raced down the Yukon River on Friday afternoon, trying to turn the 38th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race into a game of "catch me if you can."

The four-time champion from Denali Park left Ruby at 11:08 a.m. and drove onto the ice-covered Yukon River with 14 dogs in harness after dropping one.

Six hours later at 5:10 p.m., King arrived in Galena, 50 miles downriver, with three-time reigning champion Lance Mackey of Fairbanks pulling in at 6:40. Hugh Neff of Tok was 20 minutes behind Mackey. Mitch Seavey and Hans Gatt pulled into Galena at 7:45 and 8:20, respectively.

The relatively smooth river ice should offer a surface without too many surprises during the 150 miles of river running between Ruby and Kaltag.

King's mission: Build a gap.

Since the early years of the Iditarod, a tried and tested front-runner strategy is to forge a lead so large that the leader is leaving a checkpoint as the first chasers arrive, demoralizing the followers who seldom see what they're chasing.

Already, King is applying pressure to keep up -- and enjoying the ride behind his strong crew of 14 dogs.

"I feel like I'm driving the Budweiser Clydesdales," he told the Iditarod Insider in Ruby. "All this pomp and circumstance and poise and macho studliness going down the trail is just so cool. That part is really fun."

Mackey dropped a dog in Ruby and is down to a dozen.

"It's not over at all," Mackey told the Insider. "There are a lot of teams that are still very capable. My team has plenty of fight in them, that's for sure. I've got 12 dogs here that would walk to the end of the earth for me. Nonstop.

"I'm not disappointed in their performance at all. It just happens to be a little bit slower than Mr. King."

King and Mackey, like most racers so far, took the mandatory eight-hour rest along the Yukon River at Ruby, the first checkpoint on the river.

King was the first musher to reach Ruby, arriving at 3:08 a.m. Friday.

"Your team is looking phenomenal," a Ruby race official told him.

For his reward as the first musher to the Yukon, King collected a $3,500 bonus -- and then feasted on an eight-course meal prepared on camp stoves by Millennium Hotel Anchorage chef Jared Leake. Highlights included Alaska king crab, bison stew, grilled halibut with citrus sauce, lemon sorbet, potatoes, carrots simmered in brown sugar, with a blackberry jubilee to top things off.

King had polished off his dessert by the time Mackey reached the town of 185.

Should King, 54, maintain his lead all the way to Nome, he could lead a banner year for graybeards. Fairbanks musher Sonny Lindner, 60, was sixth into Ruby. Lindner first traveled the Iditarod trail in 1978.

Not far behind Lindner is 57-year-old Rick Swenson, who won the first of his record five race titles in 1977 as a 24-year-old. Swenson was 11th into Ruby.

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Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.