McLachlan broke his left leg on Tuesday when he was kicked by a horse, but, in true Southland fashion, the Myross Bush trainer did not head to the doctor until Thursday.
''I had kept working horses and wrapped it up in horse bandages,'' he said.
The only downside for McLachlan was the absence of owner-breeders Denis and Michele Horton, of Warepa, southeast of Clinton.
The Hortons sent the Washington VC gelding to McLachlan after eight starts for Edendale trainer Craig Laurenson.
The 5yr-old is the second winner out of the Hortons' Tricky Dick mare Fleetness, following Racy Lacy, who won one race from 12 starts before being exported to Australia.
Just A Jak Up's impressive win, as he paced away from Sammy The Bull to win by 1 lengths in 2.48.7, came at his 27th start. McLachlan had worked on getting the gelding feeling like a winner.
''I've had to be patient with him.
He was a little horse who had been knocked around early on, so it was a matter of getting confidence and going from there. It paid off today, anyway.''
While McLachlan may have gone through the wars
to get to the races, he had an inkling a win could be on the cards after a comment from Michele Horton.
''She's on the Gold Coast [this week] and she said the other day `you'll win...because I'm not here'.''
Just A Jak Up has had six runs since the start of May. Stablemate Starlight Invasion backed up from her win last week to run third in the feature trot. McLachlan will probably make the trip again next Friday.
''On that run today, we'd have to.''
