Andrew Forsman, who trains Charleston Girl from his stables with fellow Cambridge trainer Murray Baker, advised her to send the horse for aqua walker therapy.
So she went to Kendayla Park - Robyn and Russell Rogers' aqua walker business - for therapy for another seven weeks after Christmas.
"When you're stepping up from a rating 65 to a rating 75 it's a big step," Hales said, but the victory was an affirmation that Charleston Girl hails from a "tough family".
The Iffraaj mare is out of Masterclass (USA) mare Miss Jean Brodie, and is out of a half sister to Old Belvedeer, who won the Merial Metric Mile in 2009.
She broke out of maiden ranks by more than two lengths over 1150m at Te Awamutu on June 28 for a win before backing it up a Saturday later at Te Rapa for a 3- length victory in a $20,000 rating 65 race over 1200m.
Miss Jean Brodie was unplaced in nine starts but also is half-sister to Baranski, who has won four races in Australia, and Eliza Blues who has won two races and came second in the group 1 Queensland Oaks.
Hales had "no idea" what Baker/Forsman planned to do with Charleston Girl after yesterday but didn't think they would race her again before the end of this season.
The sheep/cattle farming couple won the $250,000 Kelt Capital Stakes in 1998 with Just Call Me Sir with Trudi Thornton in the saddle. They have five brood mares, two retired, and two weanling colts - one is by Ocean Park from Eliza Blues, and the other is by Reliable Man from Cennsibelle who has delivered her last foal.
"We thought she would be a good cross but you don't know until you race her," she said, reflecting on Charleston Girl.
Peter Hales pointed out his wife had abandoned him at the Karaka Yearling Sales one year to head off to Auckland to buy a jacket but had handed him the booklet with a corner of a page bent over to mark a horse, Grand dam Censibelle, as a prospect.
"Why do you have that page turned over about four times?" he queried on her return.
She replied: "She's a mare with a nice pedigree and I just wanted to look at her."
He said of the $4500 purchase: "Well, you can now look at her all you want because she's going to be in our paddock."
Cameron said it was a pleasure to ride Baker/Forsman horses but someone had to carry them over the line.
"She [Charleston Girl] obviously won her last two and the last one was a premier day but today she took another step up in grade and it was a little harder but she had no weight on the back and made a nice split when she needed to.
"She's a nice horse and she'll be better with six months on top of her," the Auckland jockey said.
Cameron also rode the Baker/Forsman-trained Blue Wagon who also had foot problems but is a "decent horse" at only four years old.
"It's a shame he's not 100 per cent but he's going to win races anyway," he said.
Mactaggart bought shares in Charleston Girl, his first in New Zealand, over a wine with friend and former employee Trudi Godwin, who is married to the Hales' son.
The horse's name originated from one of Mactaggart's productions in the US while Godwin was in Charleston, South Carolina, with her hubby a couple of years ago.
"We rang the parents in-law and said, 'Hey we've got a name so how about a horse?'," the HB racing sponsor said.
The rest is history.
