The premise of all literatures about manycast routing and wavelength assignment problem in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks is that all nodes are either split-capable or split-incapable. Sparse splitting network is a more realistic assumption considering network performance and cost. Manycast routing problem over sparse splitting optical networks with respect to several target functions is studied. The concept of light track and a trail-based tabu search (TTS) are proposed. Manycast member only algorithm (MOM) is an algorithm slightly adapted from the member only algorithm which is known as the best algorithm for sparse splitting multicast routing.Simulation results show that TTS algorithm performs well in comparison with MOM algorithm and is more suitable for sparse splitting networks.