53 Years and counting: Murray’s Wagga love affair rolls on with Harry’s Bar

They wouldn’t start a Wagga carnival without Paul Murray, he has been there for the past 53 years, even when he wasn’t allowed to go to the races.

Murray’s legendary father Bede decided to take Paul and the family to the famous carnival when he was a teenager.

“Dad said to Mum they will learn more at Wagga than at school,” Murray remembered. “I have been coming ever since.

”Even, the couple of years where I was having a holiday and couldn’t go to the races, I came and sat in the Union Hotel.

“The undercover stewards were looking for me everywhere, but I just sat in the hotel with some of my mates.

”The carnival is part of my life, I have been since before I could drink or bet.”

Murray has put his disqualification behind him, and even with a smaller team these days, he made sure he had a couple of runners ready for Wagga.

For all their wins at the carnival, the Murrays have only won the Town Plate once, the feature Paul will try to win with Harry’s Bar on Thursday.

“She is just a good mare that is getting better all the time. She has worked her way up to this grade and it is the right race for her,” Murray said.

“I knew Wagga was coming up when she came back in and thought this could be a nice race for her.

”There are a couple of our oldest owners in her, so it makes it that little more special.”

Harry’s Bar will race in the famous Murray stable silks, and comes off a Provincial-Midway Championship preparation, where she was runner-up in the Gosford heat over 1200m before being a gallant fifth in the Final over the Randwick 1400m.

“She probably needed another run heading into the Final, and it showed at the end,” Murray said. “What it has done is have her perfect for the Town Plate and I think the step back to 1200m helps her.

“It is a step up in grade but I think she is up to it now and to win a Town Plate with her would be perfect for us.”

Harry’s Bar is a $17 chance in a competitive Town Plate where Rue De Royale is $3.30 favourite in front of Bjorn Baker-trained Point And Shoot and Royal insignia at $5.50.