Seamus Heffernan has been 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 on Tuesday night.

Heffernan's revised suspension runs from today until October 10 and means he will miss an important meeting at the Curragh featuring the Juddmonte Beresford Stakes.

The rider said: "I'm a little bit surprised I got six days. They found me guilty of an offence, then they didn't.

"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."

The HRA's Disciplinary Panel decided that Heffernan "was not trying to act as a spoiler, but he did deliberately take a line which had the effect of materially interfering with Librettist, though this did not spoil the latter's chances".

It concluded that Heffernan's manoeuvre caused Det-tori to be moved off his intended line and found him guilty of "a serious case of careless riding, because the interference occurred over a considerable time - some 12.4 seconds, or a furlong or so of a Group One race."

* Cheltenham are to dedicate their first meeting of the new jumps season to retired champion trainer Martin Pipe.

The inaugural running of 'Martin Pipe Day' is being held on October 24 to celebrate the achievements of the recordbreaking trainer, who retired in April after a glittering 32-year training career.

He landed 15 jump trainers' championships and saddled 34 winners at the Festival, making him the second most successful trainer at Cheltenham's flagship meeting.

Pipe will be the guest of honour at a special lunch at the course. He will receive a special award in recognition of his many training feats and the many winners he sent out at Cheltenham.

Racegoers will have the opportunity to see some of Pipe's Cheltenham Festival winners in the parade ring before the first race, including Miinnehoma (1992 Royal & SunAlliance Chase) and Blowing Wind (2002 Mildmay of Flete Chase).

Cheltenham managing director Edward Gillespie said: "We felt it appropriate that Cheltenham should celebrate the training career of one of the most influential trainers our sport has ever seen. Martin Pipe Day is being held at the start of the jumps season as it will be the first time that we have raced professionally since he retired."

* Smart hurdler Boychuk made an impressive chasing debut at Exeter yesterday.

The Philip Hobbs-trained five-year-old was sent off the 4-6 favourite for the Dean & Dyball Challenge Trophy Beginners' Chase over two miles, seven and a half furlongs. Slowly warming to his fences, he led at the last in the hands of Richard Johnson and beat Bowleaze by three lengths. Blue Square left Boychuk's price unchanged at 33-1 for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.