Horse Racing Tips: Rhys Williams fancies 16/5 Sparring to put up a good fight at Limerick

• Showed promise last season

• Very little depth to this race

• Verbal Sparring is overpriced w/o the fav at Limerick

Limerick - 17:00 - Back Verbal Sparring w/o the fav

Shajak is a very short-priced favourite for the opening maiden hurdle at Limerick but rather than trying to take him on, I think the appealing option is in the without the favourite market.

Outside of the favourite there's little depth to this race, with most of these either having little ability or likely needing more education before starting to show their true ability.

One horse that doesn't fit in that category is Verbal Sparring, who showed ability on the flat and some promise in both starts over hurdles last season.

He made his hurdling debut against the likes of Comfort Zone, Jazzy Matty and Tekao and was never in contention but showed some ability. He was badly hampered at the first and raced a bit keenly under restraint towards the back of the field. He was still a long way back turning into the home straight before making some headway to finish 25 lengths behind the winner in fourteenth.

Verbal Sparring returned to the track 73 days later at Fairyhouse for his second start over hurdles and was ridden with heavy restraint at the back of the field despite a fairly steady pace.

He made some headway towards the end of the back straight and was continuing to close on the leaders in a share of fifth when he hit two out and unseated rider.

It looks like connections decided to keep him back for the new season to stay as a novice rather than risk losing that status at the end of last season and they've found him a contest with very little depth to it for his return to action.

The ground is no issue for him and I'm hoping they will look to ride him much handier tonight than was the case in those two starts given how moderate most of his opposition are.

It may be that Lady Masquerade will show a good level of ability on debut or that Verbal Sparring's keenness will harm his chance but I think he should be favourite in the without the favourite market given the ability he's shown and any 5/23.50 or bigger appeals.

Read Daryl Carter's Thursday tips here.