Valladolid, September 9: Juan Ortega, triunfador
Sometimes (albeit rarely) one has to feel sorry for the empresas. With both Morante de la Puebla and Roca Rey out of action just now, they must be struggling. Alberto García survived one trial yesterday when his Roca Rey-less mano a mano still saw a full house, but less than half the plaza was filled today for the feria’s corrida del arte featuring Diego Urdiales (in place of Morante), Juan Ortega and Pablo Aguado.
Diego Urdiales was full of joy and smiles yesterday in the callejón: today, though, the riojano’s face - even in his brindis al público on his second bull - was one of preoccupation and anxiety. He drew the worst of a well-presented lot of Núñez del Cuvillo bulls. His first stumbled coming into the plaza and again heading towards the picador, falling to the ground on that encounter. The protests rang out, but Diego asked for a change of tercio and duly received the president’s permission. A faena of any note was an impossibility - the bull fell if the muleta was held low and in other passes hooked as the suerte neared its end. Protests continued throughout the faena, eventually persuading Diego to kill with an estocada contraria. He took saludos to a generous ovation while the bull and the president received pitos.
His other bull looked the part and Diego gave it a quite of just a couple of nice delantales before the animal chose another trip to the picador instead. Urdiales was already expressing some doubts about the quality of the animal, but chose to dedicate it to the tendidos before embarking on a lengthy faena in which, try as he may, very little happened apart from some isolated naturales, the bull not lowering its head and soon showing a liking for las tablas. The estocada was slightly low but effective and Diego received another ovation while his opponent departed to whistles.
Today marked Juan Ortega’s presentation in Valladolid and it turned out to be a pretty memorable one. He gave his first animal two or three decent verónicas, but had difficulty coping with its ability to turn quickly. The same characteristic was evident in the quite, Juan producing lovely delantales, a media verónica with the feet together and (just!) a revolera. The faena was a patchy affair (worthy, I thought, of one ear). Ortega had problems ascertaining his correct distance from the bull to begin with, as well as coping with a breeze that had temporarily sprung up, but things improved, particularly some linked derechazos, a cambio de mano and a sequence of pases ayudados to close. The estocada was terrific, the sword going in to the hilt, while the bull turned towards its matador, giving him a bumping, and doubtless played its part in the crowd’s successful petition for two ears to be awarded.
Ortega’s performance with his second bull - one that almost overturned the picador in a fine pelea against the horse that enthused the crowd - was better still. The trianero produced some beautiful verónicas and a media verónica in the opening tercio, but the faena was simply phenomenal. Juan began by passing the bull with one of his knees on the ground, showing enormous temple. Thereafter, there were some pases enganchados and adjustments mid-pass due to the torero’s wish to extend passes and keep the bull close in the embroque, but his clean series were great, especially his linked derechazos and pases ayudados. There was another do-or-die estocada and the two ears awarded were thoroughly deserved, as was the applause en arrastre for the bull.
Pablo Aguado doesn’t help himself. His signature quality is his naturalidad in front of the bull - a characteristic that can be hard to capture on camera - and he barely interacts with his audience. Things began brightly on his first bull with welcoming verónicas, walking chicuelinas to the horse and a quite of static chicuelinas and a media verónica. The faena was respectable too, begun with pases ayudados, Aguado bent low, followed by decent naturales and derechazos and delicate touches like a molinete or a kikirikí (which this writer can’t remember seeing performed for some considerable time). But his swordwork was poor - a metisaca, pinchazo and estocada caída - and one was left with the feeling that a more experienced torero would have got more from this animal.
The final Núñez del Cuvillo came into the arena lame and was caped and picced, so, given what had happened earlier, it was with some surprise that when Pablo asked for the cambio de tercio, a green handerchief appeared. The sobrero was an astifino animal from Loreto Charro, which somehow survived a head-on collision with a burladero, though it fell in a larga and its front legs buckled during its sole vara. Again, Aguado’s faena, much of it on the left hand, had its merits and there was a fine series of naturales, given with the feet together, towards its end. Pablo delivered a pinchazo, which became a half sword as his cuadrilla turned the bull - sufficient to ground it at the cost of an aviso. His swordwork had once again let the sevillano down and the afternoon was solely Juan Ortega’s.