Gambling proceeds may have helped drug dealer ...

...buy horse

A Dublin High Court has heard that significant gambling winnings may have funded the £25,000 purchase of the Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner Labaik by convicted drug dealer John Boylan, and also that the Cheltenham winner's value has been reduced by his leg injury.

Solicitors for Boylan, from whom the Criminal Assets Bureau has sought a High Court order to acquire Labaik under the proceeds of crime act, have pledged to belatedly supply an affidavit as to Boylan's means of purchasing the grey after wading through "a large volume of material", including documentation pertaining to a "large amount of gambling income".

Boylan is in default of a June 5 deadline to provide the affidavit but has now been granted a two-week extension to do so, after his legal counsel relayed that the firm had received paperwork relating to gambling winnings.

Labaik injury

In a short hearing on Monday in front of Ms Justice Carmel Stewart, CAB's legal representative Ben O'Floinn highlighted for the first time the injury that Labaik suffered at Punchestown.

Having sustained suspensory ligament damage when fourth in the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle at the season's grand finale, the temperamental Gordon Elliott-trained six-year-old is expected to be sidelined until 2018 at the earliest.

O'Floinn noted the "development in relation to the value of one of the key assets".

He added of Labaik: "Sadly the horse is perhaps not in quite good condition now as a result of just the vagaries of sport."

Boylan, a native of Lucan, in County Dublin, who is also known as John Power, has never been formally registered as one of Labaik's owners, and no-one else associated with the horse is suspected of any criminal activity.

racingpost.com