The year’s triunfadores (2022 Season Review Pt2)

Detail from a poster produced to mark Morante de la Puebla’s 2022 temporada

Morante de la Puebla

When future taurine historians look back on 2022’s European temporada, it will probably be remembered as the year of Morante de la Puebla’s 100 corridas. It was a remarkable achievement for two reasons - firstly, that a previously inconsistent artista could entertain, and complete, a temporada of such magnitude; and secondly, that such a number of corridas could be accomplished by a single torero in a sector that has been depressed since the financial crisis of 2008 and so soon after Spain’s emergence from Covid epidemic restrictions.

In fact, Morante was signed up for 106 corridas in Spain, France and Portugal, the weather being responsible for three cancellations, while the other three corridas were missed through injury. The sevillano’s two-ear faenas came at Arnedo, Almendralejo, Añover del Tajo, Baeza, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Burgos (twice), Estepona, Roquetas de Mar, Santander, Huelva, Estella and Guijelo (where tails were awarded as well), Alcázar de San Juan, Salamanca, Vera, Úbeda, Alba de Tormes, Ubrique and, most importantly of all, Sevilla on May 7. Add to these successes the high praise and single ears awarded for faenas at Madrid’s Beneficencia on June 1, and at Sevilla on May 6 and September 23, and it is clear that 2022 marked the second consecutive year that Morante has performed consistently throughout, but also with a high degree of artistry in the most important plazas.

The variety in Morante’s toreo, particularly his revival of some old suertes based on toreando with the legs rather than the arm and wrist, has helped the matador accomplish a season of such length and also added to his unique presence in the bullring. As well as being an artist and a singular personality, he can be an entertainer too - all attributes that raise expectations and draw people to the bullrings.

To his credit, he has also maintained his interest, first expressed in 2021, in toreando a variety of bulls. Just over a quarter of the bulls he faced came from two ganaderías - Núñez del Cuvillo and Juan Pedro Domecq - but he also fought animals from Alcurrucén, El Puerto de San Lorenzo, Castillejo de Huebra, Galache, Capea, Torrestrella, La Quinta, Antonio Bañuelos, Fermín Bohórquez, José Luis Pereda, Rehuelga, Miura, Manuel Veiga and Samuel Flores. Let’s hope that 2023 will see his long-awaited encounter with the bulls of Hermanos Quinta, direct descendants of the Vicente Martínez bulls which Morante’s idol, Joselito el Gallo, used to face.

The bullfight public

A full house at Mont de Marsan

Possibly helped by Morante’s desire to attain 100 corridas in one season, the 2022 temporada consisted of over 1,000 festejos in Spain - over 200 more than in the last pre-Covid temporada of 2019 and the highest number achieved in any year in the last decade, and this despite the country’s poor economic situation as it still looks to recover from Covid while also experiencing the impact of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Four hundred and twenty-two locations hosted bullfights in Spain compared to 377 in 2019, with a pleasing increase in the numbers of third class rings putting on events - 379 in 2022 compared to 328 three years earlier. Fifty more pueblos than in 2019 mounted a corrida de toros, while 30 more featured a novillada con picadores. The year saw the novillada sector hold up well, with an increase of 44 festejos con picadores taking place in third class plazas.

These increases would not have been possible if bullfighting was not also proving popular with the public. As has occurred previously at times of social change - for instance, Spain’s entry to the European Union and Catalunya’s last attempt at independence - so emerging from the Covid pandemic has been accompanied by a strong desire in Spain and in France to re-engage with los toros. Official attendance figures have yet to be issued for the 2022 temporada, and there are pockets - Bilbao being the most worrying example - where public support for the corrida has been poor, but generally attendance has been on the up. Noticeable, too, has been the influx of young spectators - a welcome indication that the corrida has a future.

Andrés Roca Rey

The 26-year-old Peruvian continues to be the sole matador who is almost guaranteed to sell out bullrings, an important factor in itself, but 2022 also saw a marked development in his toreo. For some aficionados, there was still rather too much playing to the spectators rather than focusing on the bull, but Roca Rey’s best performances showed a level of control, fluidity and (most important of all) temple that he had not displayed before, while his willingness to occupy terrains that most matadors avoid remained as strong as ever. His choice of bulls, however, is conservative - all the ganaderías he appeared with comprised Domecq livestock.

Andrés finished second in the escalafón to Morante with 63 corridas to his name. His most successful afternoons came at Illescas, Castellón (twice), Almendralejo, Arles, Valladolid (twice), Córdoba, Sanlúcar de Barrameda (four ears and two tails), Bocairente, Nîmes, Alicante, León, Pamplona, Estepona, Valencia, La Linea, Huelva, Huesca, San Sebastián, Málaga, Cuenca, Almería, Bilbao, San Sebastián de los Reyes, San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Murcia (four ears and two tails), Guadalajara, Salamanca, Zafra and Las Ventas - an impressive list. That final puerta grande triumph in Madrid came after his swordwork had deprived him of similar success following important faenas both in Las Ventas and La Maestranza. He was way ahead of other matadors in terms of trophies cut, with 139 ears (35 of which were awarded in first class plazas) and 6 tails.

El Juli

Problems with the sword for El Juli at Las Ventas on May 11 saw the matador break down in tears at a burladero and finally brought an understanding to the ultra-critical occupants of the plaza’s Tendido 7 just how much a triumph in Madrid still means to this torero, who, next year, will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of his alternativa.

Sixth in the escalafón with a total of 40 corridas, Julián tasted decent success at Castellón (twice), Jerez, Valladolid, El Puerto de Santa María, Pontevedra, Casas Ibáñez, Murcia and Talavera de la Reina (at both of which tails were awarded). The highlights, however, were his Puerta del Príncipe afternoon in Sevilla on May 4 and his subsequent corridas in Madrid, his performance there with his second bull on May 20 being as awe-inspiring as his toreo nine days earlier - and with a similar ending. El Juli’s killing still leaves a lot to be desired, but his dexterity with the muleta is wondrous. So too is his ability to keep the cloth low from start to finish of a pass, something he now achieves without his old tendency to lose verticalidad.

He remains less adventurous than Morante when it comes to choosing which bulls to face, but his linkage with bulls of Garcigrande/Domingo Hernández was reduced to 30% of his afternoons this year and he did take on bulls of Alcurrucén, Torrestrella, La Quinta, Carmen Lorenzo Carrasco and Montalvo in addition to his usual Domecq fare.

Tomás Rufo

Often appearing alongside El Juli (the two matadors being both managed by the Lozanos) Tomás Rufo’s first full season as matador de toros saw the youngster pitched into the leading carteles of the main plazas. And he did not disappoint. Eleventh in the escalafón with 32 corridas, he began his temporada as triunfador of Castellón’s feria and triumphed again at Alba de Tormes before going out of Sevilla’s Puerta del Príncipe and the Puerta Grande of Las Ventas on his debuts in the plazas as a matador (a singular achievement). A bull of Toros de Cortés was indultado at Nîmes and there were other two-ear faenas at Talavera de la Reina (thrice), Valladolid, Granada, Alicante, Huesca, Herrera del Duque, Cuenca, Salamanca, Guadalajara (where he was pronounced triunfador de la feria) and Almódovar del Campo, while two ears and a tail were cut at Abarán.

The toledano’s toreo is essentially classical, based on temple and cargando la suerte, curving the bull round and seeking to stretch out a pass to its maximum. 2023 will hopefully see him have a busier temporada with a greater range of bulls - apart from alcurrucenes, two murubes of Carmen Lorenzo Carrasco and one atanasio of El Puerto de San Lorenzo, all his bulls this year were domecqs, with just over a quarter of those fought coming from Garcigrande/Domingo Hernández.

Daniel Luque

Now in his 15th year as a matador de toros, Daniel Luque (5th in the escalafón with 44 corridas) has spent the past few seasons building a case for recognition as one of the top toreros - status that 2022 finally confirmed. Successes early in the year set the trend; the indulto of a Victoriano del Río bull at Arles in April was followed by an exit through Sevilla’s Puerta del Príncipe after three ears were won for masterful faenas with bulls of El Parralejo.

His three afternoons in San Isidro only resulted in a vuelta, but there was an impressive two-ear faena at Aranjuez at the end of May, and further successful afternoons followed at Torrejón de Ardoz, Segovia, Saint Sever, Mont de Marsan, Roquetas de Mar, Huelva (where a bull of Juan Pedro Domecq was indultado), El Puerto de Santa María (twice), Azpeitia, El Espinar, Arganda del Rey, Peñaranda de Bracamonte, Colmenar Viejo, Palencia (another indulto), Navaluenga, the September Dax feria, Almódovar del Campo, Las Rozas (twice) and Palos de la Frontera. His encerrona of La Quinta bulls at Dax on 13 August, when he had one animal indultado and cut a total of seven ears and two tails, was rightly regarded as one of the finest events of the season.

In October, it was announced that Daniel and Carlos Zuñiga, his manager for the past three years, were going their separate ways, and it will be interesting to see whether the sevillano’s new apoderado, Juan Bautista, achieves what should be a busy 2023 for the torero.

Emilio de Justo

It may seem strange to describe someone as a season triunfador when they were out of action for most of the temporada, but Emilio de Justo (24th in the escalafón with 17 corridas) can be considered as such not only for his recovery from a very nasty cogida suffered early on in his April 10 encerrona at Las Ventas, but also for his strong performances following his return to the bullrings (initially in a mano a mano with Roca Rey!) towards the end of August.

To his magnificent afternoon at Almendralejo at the beginning of April, when he won four ears and a tail, can be added his successes at Almería, Cuenca, Ejea de los Caballeros, Alcázar de San Juan, Vera, Abarán, Corella, Úbeda, Fregenal de la Sierra (where another tail was won) and Jaén. Prior to that cogida, a career-defining success at Madrid seemed on the cards, and there are already rumours (not denied by the matador) that 2023 may see another Las Ventas encerrona for the extremeño.