Problems in Madrid’s corrales

Plaza 1’s recently published statistics on the 2023 temporada at Las Ventas tell the reader that 328 bulls came out of the plaza’s toriles during the course of the season, of which 14 were sobreros - half the figure of replacement bulls that occurred in 2022. Three bulls - ‘Valentón’ (Garcigrande), 'Cartelero' (José Escolar) and 'Contento' (Santiago Domecq) - were awarded a vuelta and 32% of bulls were applauded to some extent en arrastre. Seventy-three bulls (22%), by the way, were whistled en arrastre - it would be good to be able to compare this figure to the number of animals whistled by Tendido 7 on their entry to the plaza, but unfortunately this figure isn’t recorded.

All in all, on the surface, it looks much like any other temporada in the capital. But empresa Rafael García Garrido’s decision to make changes to the plaza’s team of veedores tells a different story.

Out, after one season, goes the head of the team, Juan Carlos Carreño, with his position filled by his predecessor, Florencio Fernández Florito, who returns to the role after a year acting solely as the plaza’s mayoral (García Garrido says Florito needed a rest from all the travelling the veedor position requires). The team is strengthened by the employment of Antonio Cutiño (El Juli’s veedor up until the matador’s retirement) to cover the ganaderías of Andalucía; Alberto Encinas (up until now, Morante de la Puebla’s veedor) to oversee possibilities in Extremadura and Salamanca; and ex-matador Rui Bento Vasques covering ranches in Portugal.

The reason for these changes, explains García Garrido, has been the difficulties experienced in fielding suitable bulls for Madrid this year and the knowledge that 2024, with a further reduction in the numbers of 5- and 4-year-old bulls on the ranches, will prove trickier still.

Plaza 1’s statistics tell nothing of the 2023 “dance of the corrales” García Garrido has in mind; for this, you need to turn to the October bulletin of la Asociación El Toro de Madrid, where Adrián Blázquez reveals that changes were made to the originally announced ganaderías in 35% of the festejos held up until the Otoño feria, affecting some six novilladas and 10 corridas - around one-third of the events held in each category. Within these figures, the bulls of five announced ganaderías - the novillos of Hnos. Sánchez Herrero and Cerro Longo and the toros of Los Bayones, La Palmosilla and Los Maños - were substituted in their entirety. The most affected festejos were the novillada of April 16, when Conde de Mayalde bulls replaced the six Sánchez Herrero animals that were planned and two desafío corridas (when two ganaderías are featured - in itself, this year, a sign of the scarcity of suitable bulls): that of April 2, when Pallarés v Los Maños became Pallarés (one of whom was sent back and replaced with a bull of Martín Lorca) v Celestino Cuadri, and that of July 2, when the intended Los Bayones v El Vellosino programme gave way to a mixed bag of the original vellosinos (one of which was returned to the corrales) plus animals from Lagunajanda, Martín Lorca and Las Ramblas.

Another change on the way

But the shift in veedores is not the only change being made that may affect which bulls emerge from Las Ventas’s toriles, for el Colegio Oficial de Veterinarios de Madrid has also announced changes in the make-up of the veterinarians who consider whether or not the animals supplied to the bullring are fit to be fought. The College’s vets will act in Las Ventas for a maximum of 5-8 years, with the longest serving replaced by another College member (payment for the vets’ services goes to the College, which retains 10% of the fees received).

This has raised concerns that, in an area of specialist expertise, turnover is being regarded as more important than experience in the role and that, over time, the vets may take on an antitaurino approach. In 2017, the College ceased awarding its prize for the best corrida of San Isidro on the grounds that “this kind of link-up no longer makes any sense” (the College had come under pressure to drop the award from la Asociación de Veterinarios Abolicionistas del Toreo). It’s an anomaly that an institution which, publicity-wise, does not wish to be associated with bullfighting, maintains its position as the sole source of vets both for Las Ventas and for other bullrings in la Comunidad de Madrid.

El Batán

Another destablising factor in this year’s Feria of San Isidro was the exposition of several bulls in the corrales of El Batán prior to being transported to Las Ventas, as required by Plaza 1’s contract conditions; several animals had to be withdrawn from the festejos as a result (see my earlier blog ‘Is El Batán fit for purpose?’).

It was notable that El Batán was not used for the Feria de Otoño. Indeed, bodies representing ganaderías have said the facilities there are inadequate and any exhibition of bulls there should only be at the voluntary decision of ganaderos. García Garrido has said that these circumstances mean that the contract condition cannot be complied with for the time being. Matters are complicated in that El Batán is owned by el Ayuntamiento de Madrid rather than the Comunidad, but the hope is that the two bodies can work together on an improvement plan for El Batán that will enable toros bravos to be displayed there once again and minimise the possibility of bulls then having to be withdrawn from festejos or rejected on their arrival at Las Ventas.

A bull of La Quinta during this year’s San Isidro feria