"My chances are as good as they've ever been," Mackey said in a short phone interview before the annual musher's banquet in Anchorage.

If this were a sports movie, Mackey would be the overconfident champ ripe for an upset by some hardscrabble underdog. But in real life? Maybe he's just on the verge of delivering challengers another heartbreaking defeat.

Even the 40-year-old throat cancer survivor doesn't know for sure.

"I think back to '07 when I came off of a couple of (Yukon Quest) wins and I still wasn't a contender in Iditarod in some people's eyes," Mackey said. "As they weren't thinking about me, I was going by them.

"I don't want to count anybody out," he said.

Five consecutive titles by Mackey would signal "a new category of Iditarod dominance," former rival and four-time champ Jeff King said in February. Already, Mackey is the only musher with four-straight victories.

Here's what he had to say about his chances in this year's race, new changes to the rules and how skipping the Quest may give him an edge over some of the world's top mushers.

Q: How are you feeling physically?

A: I feel better than I have in the last five years.

I still have some issues. I need a knee replacement in the worst way. But some other things that were setting me back in the past that I had fixed.

One, my teeth. You know, I had a bunch of dental work done last year, but they're a continuing problem. And some people don't realize I guess how bad your teeth affect other things on your body. And attitude and appetite and things like that.

I'm 100 percent in my opinion.

Q: The Quest sounded brutal. ... How do you feel about sitting it out?

A: I believe the people that ran the Quest this year and the issues that they had, the weather problems and whatnot, I do believe made my chances at a fifth Iditarod victory even greater. For the first time in five years, I believe it was not an advantage to run the Quest before Iditarod.

And again, that's my personal opinion. The outcome of Iditarod remains to be seen. But my team is 100 percent. Some of the guys that ran the Quest had personal issues that they might be a little hesitant to go up the Yukon with a 50 mph wind or the dogs might be a little bit hesitant to go up the river with a headwind because they were put in those positions.

Q: Do you think 2010 Iditarod runner-up Hans Gatt, in particular, was affected by the Quest?

A: Absolutely. He had a couple of near death experiences out there. That's got to be in the back of his mind. He reaches the Yukon or something. Has a little bit of overflow or a headwind, he might be a little reluctant to leave the checkpoint.

I don't know. Hans is a very tough customer, and he's very focused and he's a professional. He wouldn't be here if he didn't think he had a good chance at a good performance. We all know he has a beautiful team. He's a very accomplished individual and he's very driven.

But I can't help but think that the Quest took a little bit of his chance away. Again, that's just my personal opinion. I could eat crow here in a few days. He could outrun me by days, who knows?

Note: New to the race this year, mushers are allowed to voluntarily bring personal global positioning system units on the trail. In 2010, John Baker of Kotzebue was considered a threat to win the race before spending several frustrating hours outside of Cripple, unsure if he was on the right trail. Baker said Thursday that "it would have changed the race" if he'd had a GPS with him.

Q: The GPS: Are you happy to see that or do you think it hurts the sport?

A: I personally don't really care. Some people think it's time that we have them. ... It's not going to determine the outcome of the race.

Some people think that Johnny Baker might have been in a little bit better situation last year had he had one. But my opinion on that is that he was in a pretty bad state of mind. So had he had a GPS, he might not have even been able to make sense of it or make it function, for that matter.

So in my opinion it's just another distraction for my competitors to be focused on. And you know, like I said, I will not have one. I'm going to be racing my dogs and not worrying about anything else except my dogs.

More power to the folks who think they need them.

Q: Who will be your leaders this year?

A: I got a nice 3-year-old named Munch. He's a direct descendent out of Zorro. And he was the dog that led (Jamaican musher Newton Marshal) to Nome last year. So he's going to be one of my main ones for sure.

And I got a couple of old faithfuls, of course. Rev and Maple are still here. Maple won the Golden Harness award last year. Proud to see her back. I got a couple others, you know. Lippy is one of my originals. ... This is her last go at it, whether she wants to go again or not.

I've always had one or two pretty good leaders. But this year, for the first time, 13 out of the 16 dogs I'm racing with run lead and not just run lead, they're command leaders.

I'm looking forward to this one more so than I have in the past. My chances are greater than they have been in the past.

Q: Drug testing is back this year. Good or bad thing?

A: It doesn't really pertain to me anymore. It does not matter. They tried that last year and they didn't get what they were after. So they're going to try again and they aren't going to get what they're after and this is just going to fade away in time.

I think people were trying to make more out of it than it was, and I think we confirmed that there was nobody out there trying to cheat with performance enhancers.

... It is what it is. We all gotta deal with the rules and we'll go from there.

Q: Are you as hungry as you were the first couple wins?

A: I think more so this year than ever before. My first victory I was focused and determined and very hungry for the first one. But since the first one to now, I'm feeding off of people and their doubts and the naysayers and all of he obstacles I've had to deal with again to get to the starting line.

Yeah, I want to win the Iditarod this year worse than ever.

Again, that doesn't mean it's going to happen. I think my chances are as good as they've ever been. You know, if I get beat, I won't make excuses or complain. I'll go and shake the person's hand that gets that title and wish them well. I know what kind of team it's going to take and what kind of drive and dedication on the trail it's going to take.

I hope everybody gets to feel what I've felt the past four years winning the Iditarod.

... I'm not saying I can't be beat, but I think they're going to have their hands full.

Q: Who could beat you?

A: Anybody at any given moment. I don't count anybody out.

There's always the noticeable ones that are there every year. Paul Gebhardt. Mitch Seavey. Johnny Baker, just to name a few. They're all very savvy teams. Experienced drivers. And they're all as hungry as anybody.

But Dallas Seavey, Sven Haltmann. Jessie Royer. Cim Smyth. There's a bunch of guys that haven't won one that would love to see one.

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Twitter updates: twitter.com/iditarodlive. Call Kyle Hopkins at 257-4334.