Mercury Thoroughbred Consultants Inc.

Beacon develops unique Horse Pedigree and Racing application for Horse Breeders

Overview

Mercury Thoroughbred Consultants Inc. (MTC) provides pedigree data on all the major racehorses in the Northern Hemisphere from 1973 until the current time, together with full details of their racecourse performances, to Thoroughbred breeders throughout Europe and North America.

MTC had a DOS-based database application called HorsePower which was being used by several of their clients to view pedigree, race performance, progeny and family tree data from race horses. However, the application required an upgrade to use the latest Windows user interfaces and to take advantage of Access database technology.

Business Requirements

MTC commissioned Beacon to design, develop and implement a new Windows desktop application for HorsePower using the benefits of the latest Windows development tools to provide a modern user interface and also to supply an installable package to run from CD. In addition, MTC requested that the project be broken down into several small packages each having a defined work content.

Our Solution

Using the previous HorsePower database, Beacon designed, developed and implemented a unique Windows-based front-end, drawing data from an underlying Access database to display the pedigree, race performance, progeny and family tree information about the race horses.

The application shows five generation pedigrees and details of colour, sex and year of foaling for the winners of all Group and Graded Races in England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United States from 1973 to the present time. In addition, details are also included for horses which placed 2nd or 3rd in G1 and G2 races in these countries. This represents a significant amount of data and presently covers over 17,000 Group performers with the database being updated continually as race results and pedigrees become available.


HorsePower also provides views of the following data:

• five generation pedigrees and detail records on the sires of these horses. There are currently over 3,000 Group producing sires with their Group qualified progeny.
• race results to 3rd place for all G1 and G2 races and winners of G3 races in the same countries.
• details of such races comprising Country, Name, Distance, Surface (Turf or Dirt) Age and Sex in each year of running. This involves conditions and results for almost 22,500 races.

"It was a pleasure working with the Beacon project manager and software development team. Their enthusiasm, and quick and lively understanding of what is a highly specialised program, was impressive and I was able to incorporate fresh ideas which Beacon staff contributed. Using the original 1995 DOS-based version as a basic template, Beacon has designed and developed an elegant, extremely smart, user-friendly, updated and enhanced version of the original. The work was produced on time and to budget and our close co-operation made the whole project a pleasure. I am thrilled with the results".

Alexandra Scrope, Mercury Thoroughbred Consultants Inc.

 
Technology used

HorsePower has been designed using the very latest Microsoft .NET technology to enable more straightforward and robust development and allow the use of its’ rich user interface controls such as Data Grid and Tree View. The application was written in C# (C sharp). Beacon has successfully deployed many large projects using this technology and has found it both productive and stable.

• Microsoft .NET2 Framework
• Microsoft Access
• Microsoft Windows
• C#

What MTC’s clients had to say about using the product …..

"I would be lost without HorsePower2"
David O'Loughlin, Coolmore Stud

"I have used HorsePower since it was first introduced in 1995. It totally changed my horse life! Now I have HorsePower2 - absolutely fantastic, rather like going from a good VW to a top of the range Audi. I really do not think that anyone in the thoroughbred racing and breeding business could possibly do without HorsePower2 - put it to the top of your list of MUST HAVES."
The Dowager Duchess of Bedford, Bloomsbury Stud, England and Bloomsbury Stud, N.Z.
 
"My sales catalogue preparation would be incomplete without HorsePower. The newly improved HorsePower2 version is considerably faster too".
John O'Kelly, International Bloodstock Auctioneer
 
"As a user of HorsePower since its inception, I have always found it to be the complete program for pedigree study. How delighted I am, therefore, to find that the new version, with all its previous advantages intact, has even more to offer".
A. Leslie Harrison, Bloodstock Manager

Find out more …..

If you would like to find out more information about HorsePower, please call us on: 01223 506616 or email sales@beacon-ct.co.uk