Lachie Hart has more Torque to talk about

By Jordan Gerrans

Hes All Torque was considered one of the leading youngsters in South Australia earlier in his career and after a flat campaign or two, Queensland horseman Lachie Hart thinks he has the gelding back near his best.

Hes All Torque was bred and is owned by Hart’s grandfather Ian Corazzol, who races a big number of horses across the gallops and harness codes.

Corazzol bred Hes All Torque in South Australia from his former racing mare Torque Lively, who won on 14 occasions.

After a stint in SA and Victoria, Hes All Torque has made his way to the Sunshine State to join Corazzol’s grandson Hart, who prepares a small team of pacers.

The six-year-old set a new track record for the standing start over 1780 metres on Wednesday night in claiming the Showcase Final at Redcliffe.

“I was watching him for a while down there,” Hart said of Hes All Torque racing in the southern states.

“And, I just said to ‘Pa’ one day, I'd love to get him up and have a crack at him, to see if I can get him back to nearly his best.

“I think he's definitely exceeded my expectations since he's been up here.

“He definitely seems to have thrived since he's come over here to Queensland.

“I think Hes All Torque is the first foal that he's bred over there in South Australia.”

The Showcase Final victory was the gelding’s third on the bounce for the team of Hart and driver Angus Garrard.

Hes All Torque won his heat of the Showcase series at Redcliffe on the Wednesday prior and was required to start from a 40-metre handicap in the decider.

Despite that, the Hart-prepared pacer started as a $2 chance in the $22,408 event.

“Going into the race, I was pretty confident,” Hart said.

“I thought I had the right horse to win it, but obviously we are giving all the other horses a 40-metre head start and then you've also got to factor in that you've got to get around 12 horses, as well, at some point in the race.

“I was confident that he could do it, but there was always going to be a bit of traffic in front of him to get around. I'm just glad that he did.

“Angus and I, we spoke about it before the race and I know from previous years, they tend to go pretty hard early in that race.

“So, we thought, if they do that, we could just let them do the work up front and we'd focus on making our move a bit later in the race and hopefully just have too much sprint time.

“Angus drove him perfectly; he's driven him a few times now and he's had three wins on him now.

“So, he knows him pretty well and he couldn't have driven him any better.”

Hes All Torque raced at the Gatton Show in the middle of July before heading into the Showcase series at Redcliffe.

“It's very generous of the Garrard family to sponsor the race and put it on each year,” Hart said.

“It's good for smaller trainers to be able to race for some good prizemoney.”

Hes All Torque won a Group 3 race as a two-year-old in SA back in December of 2022.

Following the Showcase series, Hart says his stable star will return to Albion Park and race through Saturday grade and hopefully contest a few feature races later in 2026.

The 27-year-old Hart prepares a team of four, with two currently racing, from his Woodhill stables, while also juggling a full-time job and a growing family.

The young horseman and his wife Chloe welcomed twin boys Noah and Oliver into the world just over a year ago.

With three winners to his name this season, he is hopeful of expanding his team and enjoying a fruitful run in the second half of 2026.