Sparring lands knockout punch late on The Des McDonogh-trained Verbal Sparring found plenty late on to land the spoils at 28/1 in the Pravha Handicap Hurdle at Down Royal. Carl Millar produced his mount to fight it out with Gamigin before the second-last and the pair had a good tussle. Verbal Sparring had a narrow advantage over the final flight and stayed on best to the line to record a length-and-three-quarters success over the heavily-supported 7/2 favourite (25/1 this morning). Redemption after Navan mishap The winner had unshipped Millar after a bad blunder at the first on his return from a lengthy absence at Navan in November. Winning trainer Des McDonogh said: "He was unlucky, he fell at the first in Navan and he had a loose school around and jumped every hurdle perfect. "That boy gave him a cracking ride - if you have him in behind horses, he will dive at them (hurdles), so he had him out and he measured everything. He jumped great. "He had been off before Navan with minor problems, and he needs soft/heavy ground anyway. "He has (plenty of back form), he was second a couple of times and he fell at Naas at the last when he might have won. "I'd say he would come on from that." (Quotes by Michael Graham)
