LEONARDO’S DREAM
TAKES SHAPE

By Kristen Manning

Racegoers are a busy group, bustling in through
the turnstiles, eager to get their first bet on. I
was one of those on a stifling hot day at the
majestic San Siro Racetrack in Milan, Italy on
Sunday June 16.

With an interesting field of 2Y0’s due to line up in the
opening event I was keen to take my place at the
mounting yard fence but as it turned out the races had to
wait — for, adjacent to the entrance of San Siro, is the
most spectacular tribute to the equine that I have ever
witnessed.

Already that week awestruck by Stubbs’ famous “Mares
and Foals” in the Tate Gallery in London, I could not
believe what stood before me — a magnificent 24ft, 15
tonne clay and bronze statue of a horse. And what a
horse!

Standing on a white marble pedestal on a large granite
base, “Il Cavallo” as he is referred to by Italians, is an
inspiring sight. His head strong, his eyes commanding, his
neck a flowing curve down to a long, thick back and girth,
his tail raised, his near fore and his off hind legs struck
out as though midway through a determined stride.
One could only stare and marvel — Phar Lap’s statue at
Flemington is nice but this is — well, amazing! Where did
he come from?

His story, as it turns out, is a long and fascinating one —
one that has its roots deep in renaissance history.

Way back in 1482 the then 30-year-old Leonardo da Vinci
was preparing for a move to Milan, writing to the Duke of
the city — Ludovico Sforza and offering to build a statue
for “the immortal glory and eternal honor of the pleasant

memory of the Lord, thy father and of the glorious House
of the Sforza.” And that statue would take the form of a
horse, a horse like no other — the tallest in the world.

As it turned out Leonardo was kept rather busy during his
many years in Milan — as tourists who make the
worthwhile trip to see The Last Supper can confirm. He
worked on various projects from portraits of Milan’s upper
crust to the direction of gala parties and the composition
of riddles and rhymes for the court’s amusement.

But he was passionate about his horse and eventually a
24 foot clay model was built in a field not too far out of the
city. He must have looked quite incredible standing out
there — as the Da Vinci scholar Carlo Pedretti says -
“One can well imagine the skyline of such a peaceful
landscape, bathed in the yellow light of a misty morning
of a September day on the Lombard plain… and see that
skyline suddenly interrupted by the imposing silhouette of
Leonardo’s colossal clay model, standing there with the
foreboding of a Trojan horse.”

Unfortunately it was not just Da Vinci and his helpers who
were amongst the lucky few to take in this sight — French
troops coming across it on their way to invade Milan.
Using it as shooting practice they reduced it almost to
rubble and nothing of it exists today.

Although despondent, Da Vinci was determined one day
to see his horse stand proudly but he was not to live to
see his vision materialise. And so through history his
uncompleted project was known as “the horse who never
was.”

In the mid 1970’s Da Vinci’s sketches and designs, to that
time missing, surfaced and the story of his lost dream
made it into a 1977 edition of National Geographic.

Reading this in his lounge room in Fogelsville,
Pennsylvania, the retired airline pilot Charles Dent was
deeply moved. A student and collector of fine renaissance
art, he felt an affinity for Da Vinci’s horse and decided
that the project would, after 500 years, come to fruition.

After extensive travel, research and discussion with art
experts around the world Dent, in 1982 established
“Leonardo Da Vinci’s Horse Inc,” a non-profit organisation
with the aim of finally building what is now known simply
as “Leonardo’s Horse.”

Meeting most of the expenses himself, selling many
valuable pieces from his own private art collection, Dent
went about building a 50 foot high domed studio on his
rural property.

Home to the emerging horse, that dome saw a myriad of
artists and sculptors (including Nina Akamu who put the
finishing touches on the project) devote their time, with
donations pouring in and the media becoming interested.

All was going well until tragedy struck in 1994, Charles
Dent diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and
subsequently passing away on Christmas Day. A few
days before, however, his friends had gathered around
his bed — vowing that his beloved project would go
ahead.

Leonardo’s horse.

And so it did and a few years later a horse packed in
seven cases on a cargo flight made its way to Milan — a
gift from the people of America to the people of Italy.

September 10, 1999 saw the long awaited unveiling, and
how apt a park at a racetrack was chosen as home for the
world’s biggest bronze horse. And how privileged I feel to
have seen him — a trip to Milan worthwhile in so many
ways, but even if only to stand at the feet of Leonardo’s
Horse.

BOOKMAKING AND
THE ATO

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) recently
made available a series of benchmarks, by
industry, sourced by their database of income
tax returns for the year ended 30 June 2000. The
benchmarks provided include a comparison of
“gross profit”, “net profit” and “wages to
turnover” by entities type. This financial
information with respect to “Bookmaker
operations” is reproduced below. By Adam Tims.

These benchmarks can be useful to compare your
business’ performance to others in the bookmaking

industry. For example, a low net profit ratio may indicate
that some operating expenses such as motor vehicle,
wages and rental may be high in comparison to industry
averages.

Perhaps of even greater importance is the fact that the
ATO use benchmarks, together with a range of other
information, to identify any compliance issues and
taxpayers that may require further assistance or
monitoring. The wages to turnover ratio, in particular,
provides a relevant measure in those industries where
cash wages are common.
It is important to assess these ratios with some caution
given that a large population of data can at times
produce misleading results. Nevertheless, this is official
ATO data that should be considered, as a minimum when
finalising books and records for the tax return.