Six days for Heffernan
Seamus Heffernan has been given a six-day ban for careless riding on Ivan Denisovich following a controversial renewal of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.
The Irish jockey had originally been found guilty of improper riding and handed 14 days under Instruction H1 headed “Pacemakers (Team Tactics)” after the local stewards ruled he had forced Frankie Dettori out wide on Librettist on the home turn in the Group One contest won by Ivan Denisovich’s stablemate George Washington.
But he was cleared of that offence at an appeal hearing at the Horseracing Regulatory Authority’s London headquarters late last night.
Heffernan’s revised suspension runs from tomorrow until October 10 and means he will miss an important meeting at the Curragh featuring the Juddmonte Beresford Stakes.
“I’m a little bit surprised I got six days. They found me guilty of an offence, then they didn’t,” the rider said.
“If I was guilty of an offence, it wasn’t deliberate. It was a chain reaction and that’s why they dropped the charge. It was a bump I got from behind and my horse got unbalanced.
“The original charge was a serious allegation which would have been damaging to my career.
“They were wrong and they had to be proved wrong. It was a very small thing that got blown out of proportion. I’m disappointed, but I still feel I didn’t do anything wrong.
“I am going to miss an important day at the Curragh at the weekend.
“I’m disappointed, but that’s it. They are there to make the rules. At least they gave me a fair chance to explain what happened.”
