UNALAKLEET, Alaska — Defending champion Lance Mackey regained the lead of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race today, but four-time champion Jeff King was staying close.

King arrived at the checkpoint at Shaktoolik along the coast early Monday morning, just 13 minutes behind Mackey in the 1,100-mile race from Anchorage to Nome.

Mackey has been here before. Just last year, he beat King out of the previous checkpoint at Unalakleet in the last leg of the race and went on to win the Iditarod.

The 37-year-old Mackey, of Fairbanks, trailed King again going into Unalakleet.

"If history repeats itself, things are looking good," Mackey said as he changed sleds for the trek across the icy, often windy coast to Nome.

King arrived at Unalakleet at about 2 p.m. Sunday, still running with all 16 dogs. Mackey followed 90 minutes later. But he was first out of the community of 750, leaving at 6:17 p.m., 44 minutes ahead of King.

Not that the 51-year-old King is too concerned.

"I think I have more speed than he does," King said. "But clearly, this could be a race. I thought his team looked pretty good coming here."

Before taking off, King asked checkpoint volunteers for Mackey's departure time. Asked if that affected his own departure, he said: "No, it's about the time I was going to go."

Mackey led until King shot past him early Sunday after leaving the Kaltag checkpoint for Unalakleet, 261 miles from the finish in Nome.

In Unalakleet, while King napped, Mackey fed his dogs and joked with locals, stopping to sign autographs on several parkas. He told veterinarians he would drop two dogs that weren't performing well, leaving him with 12.

Many of these dogs were with Mackey last year when he became the first musher to record back-to-back wins in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod. Mackey also won the Yukon Quest last month with many of the same dogs running in this Iditarod.

But the team hasn't been running up to par with past races, while King's dogs have looked alert and strong.

Mackey's dogs have been hampered by diarrhea and dulled by unseasonably warm temperatures, which were starting to drop on Sunday. They have turned up their noses at food at some checkpoints.

Most were relishing their food at Unalakleet, and Mackey said they were taking a turn for the better, responding to medicine and cooler temperatures. They also stopped to rest for at least six hours after leaving Kaltag.

"Now's the time to start paying attention to the neighbors," Mackey said, referring to close contenders like King and veteran Paul Gebhardt, runner-up last year, who was running fourth on Monday.

More than a half dozen mushers were out of Unalakleet and headed to Shaktookik. Among them were Sebastian Schnuelle of Whitehorse, Yukon; Kjetil Backen of Porsbrunn, Norway; three-time Yukon Quest winner Hans Gatt of Whitehorse; four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser of Big Lake; and Rick Swenson of Two Rivers, the Iditarod's only five-time winner.

Half of the top 10 teams on Monday were previous Iditarod champions.

Nine mushers have scratched since the start of the race and one has been withdrawn. One dog has died.

On Sunday, rookie Rodney Whaley of Franklin, Tenn., scratched in Cripple with 13 dogs.

A field of 85 mushers remain on the trail.

The front-runners take about 10 days to make the trek, so the winner could cross the finish line under Nome's burled arch by Tuesday.

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On the Net: www.iditarod.com