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Photo by Sam Harrel

WHITEHORSE, Yukon — Dave Dalton is a bit like his dogs — steady, tough and level-headed.

The combination on Wednesday night led him to third place in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, his fourth top-five finish since 2004.

“They’re just a tough-headed dog team I have here, so I knew I could run 12-13 hours without them even hesitating,” said Dalton, who like everyone else negotiated knee-deep overflow early in the final run from Braeburn.

Dalton had been engaged in a spirited competition for third place with Michelle Phillips, the Yukon musher he befriended and traveled with for much of the race; and young Brent Sass of Fairbanks.

Dalton, who finished with 10 dogs and won $20,000, said the team’s consistency won out.

“The dogs kept that same pace” while Phillips and Sass slowed down slightly, he said.

Phillips, who started the day 27 minutes behind Dalton, arrived 46 minutes after him to take fourth place and $16,500. Sass started the day 76 minutes behind Phillips and was comfortably traveling in the fifth position late Wednesday night. Griffin, down to the minimum six dogs, was in sixth about five hours later.

“(Michelle’s) a really tough gal,” Dalton said. “Her and Kelley (Griffin) are going to win the race one of these years.”

Phillips, though, split from Dalton at Pelly Crossing after the two had mushed on the same schedule for hundreds of miles.

“She broke it off on me and I said OK. The next time I seen her she was cryin’ that I didn’t camp with her,” said Dalton, who stayed in the finish chute to wait for her arrival.

Dalton, of Healy, has created his own bloodlines, and the effort has paid off in recent years. From 1988-2002, he started 13 Quests with a career-best seventh place before breaking through beginning in 2004.

“This breed is old (Rick) Swenson line and Roxy and Charlie Champaine,” he said. “They have really excellent feet and good heads and good appetite, good coat. It’s built for the Quest for me.”

Dalton, 50, has now started 18 Quests (and finished 14), second only to Frank Turner’s 24 starts.

“I plan on coming back next year,” he said. “I guess that’s my next goal, to break Frank’s record.”

After a decent-sized crowd waited for several hours because of an erroneous report of his progress, Dalton crossed the downtown finish line at 10:44 p.m., more than 21 hours after winner Lance Mackey, who greeted Dalton with a can of Budweiser beer.

Dalton’s dogs — his kennel is called Dalton Gang — will now get a nice break before heading out to a glacier-tour operation in May near Juneau.

Rest of the field

Hugh Neff, who reportedly took a longer-than-intended nap on Wednesday that cost him several hours, and Dan Kaduce will duke it out today for seventh place after leaving Braeburn Wednesday night a half-hour apart.

Jean-denis Britten also is expected in to Whitehorse late this afternoon.

En route from Carmacks to Braeburn Wednesday night were Bill Pinkham, Mike Ellis and Phil Joy.

The back of the pack remains Bill Cotter, Ann Ledwidge and Kyla Boivin, who reached Pelly Crossing within 15 minutes of each other around 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Ledwidge was the first to leave at 10:30 p.m., followed five minutes later by Cotter.

Boivin, hoping to avoid the red lantern, couldn’t have been far behind.

Ski pole trade

Lance Mackey dug a ski pole out of his sled bag in case he needed it for the finish push Tuesday night to the finish line.

Then he accidentally dropped it.

Ken Anderson, trailing Mackey by about 15 minutes, had regrettably unpacked his ski pole while shedding as much weight as possible for the 100-mile run from Braeburn.

When he saw Mackey’s ski pole next to the trail, he picked it up and began using it.

It helped him get within about five minutes of Mackey miles from the finish.

But when the margin grew a little as his dogs faded, Anderson understandably discarded the pole, not wanting to deliver it to the guy who’d just outlasted him to win his fourth straight title.

That wasn’t the only adventure Tuesday.

While Anderson was preparing to leave Braeburn Tuesday afternoon, his wife, Gwen Holdmann, was in a meeting in Anchorage.

Then she learned that her boss, Bernie Karl of Chena Hot Springs Resort, would fly her to Whitehorse for the finish if she could reach Fairbanks within three hours.

So Holdmann walked out of the meeting, went straight to the Anchorage airport, bought a ticket over the counter and reached Fairbanks in time to fly on Karl’s private plane, Anderson said on Wednesday night while waiting for Dave Dalton to arrive.

Holdmann, along with Anderson’s parents from Minnesota, were waiting when Anderson arrived 15 minutes after Mackey to claim second place.

After spending the night, Holdmann, a 1998 Quest finisher, completed her whirlwind tour by flying back to Fairbanks on Wednesday morning.