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By Colin Hodges

Former Central West racecaller Pat Bourke, who passed away recently at Wellington, would have enjoyed the Warren meeting on Friday where three generations of the Stanley family won races in front of a big crowd.

Pat’s wife Kathy Bourke is the sister of Wellington trainer Peter Stanley who won with $26 outsider Fancy Garter ridden by his daughter Ashleigh Stanley.

The late Pat Bourke

First leg of a winning double for Ashleigh Stanley was the Maree Hopkins-trained Flying Dubawi ($7) while Peter Stanley’s grandson Dylan Stanley also won on Cumboogle ($2.30 favourite) for Gulgong trainer Brett Thompson.

Renowned as an accurate caller with a great sense of humour, Pat Bourke before his retirement called gallops meetings at tracks including Geurie, Gulgong, Wellington and several others while he also called harness races and was the ground announcer for the Wellington Cowboys rugby league home games.

A very well liked and great character, Pat often worked as a shearer while he was the trainer of several winners including Saint Joseph at Binnaway when ridden by Pat’s brother-in-law Peter Stanley.

Pat Bourke who died aged 82, was behind the microphone at meetings during the same era as other racecallers in the Central and Western areas including Bobby Gunn, Reg Ferguson, John Kerwick, Bob Foran, Shiner Ryan, Harry Hart, Don Ryan, Bill Palmer, Terry Bootle, Tim Moses and yours truly.

The funeral for Pat Bourke will be held at St Patrick’s Catholic Church Wellington on Friday, 20th December 2024 commencing at 11am.

Apart from the three winners for the Stanley family at the well promoted Warren twilight meeting, Dubbo trainer Clint Lundholm had a winning double with Notabadchassis (Clayton Gallagher, $4.20) and Sizzling Tale (Zoe Hunt, $6).

The other winners were the Dean Mirfin, Bathurst-trained Giovanni Star (Jessica Brookes, $2.40 fav) and Luckyimwithaimee (Shayleigh Ingelse, $11) trained at Narromine by Wayne Collison.

Upcoming race meetings in the Central West and Western regions are scheduled for Dubbo (Saturday 21st December), Bathurst (Monday 23rd December), Wellington (Boxing Day), Gilgandra (Saturday 28th December), Orange (Monday 30th December) and Gilgandra Cup Day (Sunday 5th January).