Markers are set to be a common sight at the Ellerslie trials following their successful launch at the Auckland track on Tuesday.

Following consultation with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, and gaining clearance from the Racing Integrity Board, markers were placed 10m from the outside of the track on Tuesday, allowing for the 29 heats to utilise the outer section of the track without moving the running rail.

Craig Baker, Auckland Thoroughbred Racing’s Executive General Manager of Racing and Operations, was pleased with the inaugural use of the markers and said they will be a great tool for the club going forward.

“It (markers) just enables us to trial without needing to use the running rail,” he said. “Moving the running rail is a real labour-intensive activity, so it can take five guys the best part of half a day to move the running rail, where one person can put markers up in two hours. It reduces the labour required.

“It also enables us to use that outside section (of the track) which we still have to maintain as well as we do the inside 10m, and we want to make sure we use it.”

Baker said the club learned a lot from Tuesday’s trials and they will be making slight changes when utilising the markers in the future.

“It worked really well, but we have got a couple of learnings,” he said. “For inexperienced two-year-olds, we will reduce the maximum field size and also provide 12m in width compared to the 10m we had on Tuesday.

“When they trial against the rail, the horses gallop closer to the rail, but with the markers they a) don’t want to stand on the marker, and b) they don’t want to go inside the marker, so they naturally come off that marker a bit. You have got to give them more width than normal.”