BRYAN Cooper enjoyed a memorable opening day of the Winter Festival as he brought up a treble, achieved with three different trainers, which was headed by Dunvegan in the featured Easyfix Equine Handicap Chase over two miles.

This €40,000 Grade B contest saw Pat Fahy’s charge dropping back to the minimum trip for the first time in almost two years and the George Turner and Clipper Logistics-owned grey revelled in the return to this distance. The winner had also been in very good form on the flat in the autumn with an excellent third in the November Handicap and a fifth on Irish Champions Weekend among his efforts and provided further evidence that he is in the form of his life.