Joseph O'Brien's strong bid for the apprentice championship is increasingly being hindered by regular visits to the stewards room, and he was hit with a further three day ban for excessive use of the whip at the Curragh today.

The Ballydoyle teenager was judged to have used his whip excessively aboard Battleoftrafalgar in the concluding 12f maiden, the second leg of a near 20/1 double for the rider this afternoon.

Today's successes put him level on 33 wins with both Ben Curtis and current apprentice champion Gary Carroll.

However O'Brien will face the appeals and referrals committee tomorrow over a number of incidents last month at Dundalk and Listowel, where he picked up a total of six days in suspensions.

O'Brien's father Aidan, trainer of Battleoftrafalgar, was found guilty of giving riding instructions which contributed to a breech of whip guidelines. He was fined 250 euro.