Two-time Yukon Quest champion John Schandelmeier is picking Allen Moore to win his third straight 1,600-kilometre race this month.

Schandelmeier, who is serving as an armchair musher for the annual international sled dog race, announced his pick for winner earlier this week on the race website.

Moore, 57, is a two-time defending champion and was runner-up to 2012 victor Hugh Neff in a race that came down to a photo finish.

“One certainly can’t bet against Allen Moore,” Schandelmeier said in his online post.

“SP Kennels had three teams in the top six at the Copper Basin 300. It is hard to argue against that kennel and their very experienced driver.”

Schandelmeier won the Quest in 1992 and 1996. He returned to race the trail last year, finishing in fifth place.

Despite his bold prediction, the old-timer acknowledged that this year’s field is the best in recent memory.

The 62-year-old rounded out his top-five finishers with four-time Iditarod champ Jeff King in second, Ray Redington Jr. in third, Brent Sass in fourth and Neff in fifth.

Joar Ulsom, Matt Hall, Scott Smith and Ryne Olson will round out a very competitive top 10, Schandelmeier added, each of whom will vie for sixth place.

While four-time Quest champ Lance Mackey did not make Schandelmeier’s top-10 list, the armchair musher said “he is very capable.”

Schandelmeier also mentioned Yukoner’s Normand Casavant and Ed Hopkins as potential top-10 mushers.

“Both of these guys have the experience and the drive to be right up there,” Schandelmeier wrote. “How are we going to fit 15 teams into the top-10 anyway?”

The 32nd annual Yukon Quest featuring 26 mushers begins Saturday in Whitehorse. The festivities will get underway at 11 a.m. in Shipyards Park.