Jock Richardson

La Plata Fuerte

12 October – Beware Palhas

I did wonder if it was wise to include a corrida of Palhas in the main course of our taurine meal in Zaragoza. On the one hand, we were to watch an encierro of bulls at the end of a succesion of three totally unacceptable encierros to be fought by a couple of modest toreros and a recent upstart. On the other hand, I have seen encierro after encierro of Palhas win prizes in the exigent plaza of Azpeitia in their feudo in Guipúzcoa; Sánchez Vara is a hero to all the toristas in France and Spain; and Octavio Chacón is an experienced matador of difficult bulls. I looked forward to a feast.

Palha has two bloodlines kept apart and today we had bulls of Baltasar Ibán ancestry and bulls from his Pinto Barreiro, Isaías y Tulio Vázquez (Angus Macnab’s best bulls of all), Oliveira Hermanos and Torrealta line; they are not difficult to tell apart. The first today was a huge one of the latter line at 625 kilos. With no idea of what he was approaching, other than the weight notice above the toril, Sánchez Vara strode to la portagayola. It was a corrida goyesca and he was dressed in pink. The lance was successful, and it was clear the Palha had great trapío and frightening appearance. The welcoming verónicas were low, very slow, and confidently completed. The bull left them, though, and rushed the horse before receiving an invitation. It almost knocked the horse over and worked very hard against a furious pic. The tension was phenomenal and when Vara took the bull to los medios it increased. José Navarrete had to cite a few times to make it charge but when it did, it was to take a brutal pic that left its left horn frayed like a brush. Vara placed his own sticks: a cuarteo, a pair off the estribo and a very tight cuarteo off the estribo into a pair al violín. He paid little attention to where they were landing but made a spectacular suerte. The large and heavy bull tired fast but not before Sánchez Vara had delivered three sets of pases in single heaps, two with the right and one with the left. As the end neared, the once hugely impressive bull had become a tired old manso. Sánchez Vara killed it with an estocada from a direct entry.

His second bull was 117 kilos lighter than his first, which proved that, for some reason finding an equal encierro had not been possible. Sánchez Vara welcomed it with a couple of very smooth verónicas and a couple of close media verónicas. The bull went to the horse, reluctantly, three times for light pics and it was surprising that Sánchez Vara got it going to place tree pairs of spectacular sticks. It was far too weak for the matador to produce a faena, and when it sat down after one of the staggering charges Sánchez Vara drew out of it, he went for the real sword and delivered an atravesada thrust from an outward curve.

Octavio Chacón’s first bull was treated to two brutal pics by Antonio Galván, the second going on for ages with a great deal of barreneo. The suerte de varas can be a beautiful part of the corrida when it is done in favour of the bull: this was murder. Despite its punishment Borja Jiménez performed beautifully close, clean, and controlling chicuelinas. The stumbling started in the second suerte in the third of three varied placements of banderillas. This bull had a generous dose of nobility and Chacón delivered a linked series of naturales against the barrera that were long, complete and templados. And he went on, slow and secure, for three more series as the bull gradually grew tired. It was fatigue imbued by sound toreo by a matador who was making pases that were slow, concentrated, close and templados. At last, the man behind me, who has been shouting for “¡Emoción!” all week, got some – if he appreciated what was going on before him. The faena ended with similarly complete derechazos, an estocada and a descabello. That bird so rare in this Pilar, ‘aplausos en el arrastre” sang out loud and clear.

Chacón placed the fifth bull well for the varas and it attacked the horse from spectacular distances. “Many a green isle needs must be/In this deep wide sea of Misery…” Borja Jiménez was soon out to make another quite. His delantales were cut short when the horns caught his cape, but the resolution of his revolera solved that problem. The approaches of the banderilleros were varied and interesting but the placements were inaccurate. The faena opened with routine, rough, derechazos and naturales. My compañera said, “He is in a trance”. I held up my notebook to her. I had just written, “This is a kind of dream sequence”. The bull was now weak and cowardly and Chacón could do no more than squeeze single pases from it. It was not so weak that, when he entered to kill, it was unable to lunge towards him and deliver a brutal cogida. He was off to the infirmary and Sánchez Vara killed the bull.

Borja Jiménez spent his afternoon in a successful attempt to prove that his great success in Madrid’s Otoño feria was no flash in the pan. He welcomed his first with wild low verónicas full of movement before a suerte de varas in which the bull entered into a fierce battle with the picador during two long pics. This bull was difficult, calculating, and deceitful in the faena and, as it threw its hooks at head height and caught the lure at every opportunity, the alertness and torería of Borja Jiménez was tested to the full. I suppose that by avoiding being gored, he passed the test. It was positive and intelligent work, but it was risk avoidance rather than toreo de verdad. Why, after the flapping alignment and the estocada, a near majority wanted an ear for him was a mystery. Still, the lad had done well with a very difficult Palha.

Unfortunately, his second bull did not prove to be metal more attractive. That was already suggested by the handbill and the digital tape: it was 612 kilos of bull either just before or just after its fifth birthday. Its matador welcomed it with a larga cambiada de rodillas in a statement of intent and threw in a pedestrian revolera of huge extent, beauty, and suddenness. The bull hit the horse’s rump and spun it round and round in a dangerous dervish dance heading to a derribo. The frantic labours of the monosabios to get the horse on its feet kept eight thousand hearts in so many mouths. And they stayed there while ‘Cesgunillo’ made its second fierce attack for a light second vara. The “emoción” was by no means over. The bull was not about to charge the banderilleros readily. It stood there ogling each of them with evil intent. They, José Luis Barrero and Juan Perico, stared it back and challenged it into three firm charges to place three brilliantly accurate pairs of banderillas. Their saludos were bravely earned and sincerely given. The faena was not meritorious for any art or beauty it contained, but it was a careful study in courage and technique. The bull could no longer charge with certainty or durability, so Borja Jiménez was fated to the extraction of single pases. He got them, by crossing into el embroque, advancing the lure, and persuading the bull to move. All that had gone before and the man’s courage, patience and positioning kept tension at near breaking point. It kept my muscles tight and silenced the vocal cords of my noisy neighbour. Espartaco’s pupil went on just long enough to fully establish the nature of the bull, his own worth, and to maintain the interest of the audience. The call for an ear after the estocada was just as great as had been the one for his first faena. Quite correctly it was denied. The vuelta del ruedo was clamorous.

13 October – In the Absence of Morante

Today’s substantial audience was maybe because people forgot or did not know that Morante was not coming; or thought that Talavante was an adequate substitute; or because it was a festive Friday. Or maybe there was some other reason. Whatever the reason, the plaza was nearly full and the ambiente was humming. Talavante’s five welcoming verónicas to the first, 563 kilos of an El Pilar juanpedro bred by Fraile, were calculated, smooth and precise. No wonder they stimulated “¡Olé!”s from the public. Placed en sitio for the picador twice, the bull took a couple of light pics, its rear feet rising as it shoved. After the regular banderillas, it was still looking healthy and Talavante’s march to los medios with right-handed pases was impressive. What we had just seen was all we were to see that was worthwhile. It will be clear from these reports that all a matador can do with a bull that cannot charge is to squeeze single pases or half pases from it, each one ending in a trot or walk away from the stationary animal to find space from which to initiate a new cite. It is slow and tedious toreo and would as well be dispensed with. Talavante’s initial right-handed pases of this ilk looked smooth and well-constructed, but as time passed, he moved outwards and ended up performing casual pases from a discreet lateral distance. It went on for too long, and when he killed, only 19 minutes after the paseíllo and the National Hymn, there were deserved whistles for both man and bull in the arrastre. With the fourth bull, Talavante started with another florid flurry of cape work: afarolados and verónicas lighting up the arena and leaving the bull standing dazed or amazed. It worked hard in the first pic and once it had run through a few lovely chicuelinas, it immediately fell. The banderilleros were poorly positioned, and they placed two and a half pairs of farpas in their suerte inaccurately. The bull was exhausted and as toreado as it would ever be, not at all, but Talavante persisted with his pass and reposition manoeuvres for far too long. Maybe he was trying to justify the foolish dedication he had made to the crowd. The owner of the pathetic voice pleading for emotion sounded quite distraught. Talavante killed with two pinchazos on the bull’s shoulder.

Emilio de Justo drew a 596 kilo with exaggerated juampedro characteristics in second place. It was certainly an impressive example of the dangers of obesity. Despite the weakness of its feet, it accepted some rough verónicas from de Justo and, from well-chosen positions before the horse, charged well for one pic and threw violent hooks in the second. It was on the downhill slide already. As so often happens in such cases, the banderilleros lightened the mood. Ángel Gómez and Pérez Valcarres placed three great pairs and won the first applause of the afternoon. The faena opened with some derechazos from de Justo that were so slow they were almost caresses. They segued into more derechazos in a slow, complete, linked series. De Justo had found the cooperative horn and the series of derechazos were of the type that stop the clock. All that artistic beauty slipped away when he went to the left hand. The pases became rough and the feeling that the bull was being toreado fell away. It was not exactly shoddy work; it just did not have the depth and value of what had gone before. It had been a faena like the curate’s egg – good in parts – and we all know that an egg that is only partly good is no good at all. By the estocada delivered a un tiempo, it was not worth the vuelta it was given.

‘Guajiro’ weighed 506 kilos, but still tended to the anovillado in appearance. De Justo welcomed it in a march of eight calm and calculated verónicas of immaculate structure and amazing rhythm. The legs of the bull buckled once, but it revived and continued charging impressively. The first pic was all that one would wish to see: the bull placed en sitio, a positive charge to the horse and a well-placed moderate pic taken with commitment. What a pity it was that the second was not similarly organised: the bull was not properly placed and merely received a touch. The quites proved that it could have survived a decent second vara: a hugely cheered set of chicuelinas from de Justo and a reply of the same lance by Pablo Aguado in which his gyrations to the new cite position were complete and spectacular. How great it was to see Morenito de Arles place banderilleros as if he was still 20 years’ old. Pérez Valcarres equalled his perfection. This was the most toreable of the many bulls we have seen in this feria and it was no surprise that de Justo dedicated it to the public. His faena opening of derechazos de rodillas was a bit downmarket for me, but the majority loved it. When Emilio de Justo meets his bull, he can stroke the perfection of true artistic toreo. He cites de frente en el frente; he offers the lure forward and his height and arm length are used to take the bull round, the suerte cargando, in long and rhythmic pases to precise and distant endings for the initiation of the next linked and similarly brilliant muletazo. He performed derechazos of that type in abundance. When he went to the left hand, he once again tended to the linear and staccato. That marred the faena slightly for me, but the majority, enlivened, perhaps, by the fact that we had at last seen some toreo to a genuine bull and that de Justo rounded the whole happy thing off with some very close manoletinas and an estocada but slightly tendida, were determined that he get two ears and the main gate that they gave him.

The wild verónicas with which Pablo Aguado welcomed his first bull, anovillado in appearance, soon melted into a slow and serene series of great temple. He set the bull up before the horse beautifully and it complied in two pics without great enthusiasm. It fell as it emerged from the suerte and slipped again in the brega before the banderillas. Destiny was frowning again. Still, we did see three great pairs of banderillas before Aguado was condemned to a pass and readjust faena to a near cripple. It did not last long, and he killed with two pinchazos and a descabello. The sixth bull provided Aguado with little with which to work. It was a weak and lethargic beast. He deserves a good deal of credit for trying hard to nurse it through the three tercios. His early verónicas were performed with scarcely a movement of the feet but a slow coaxing movement of the arms. The bull fell after its first pic and took but a touch on its second entry. The defining feature of the faena was the slowness with which the pases were delivered: beautifully close molinetes and trincherazos interlaced with slow-motion derechazos almost linked together as Aguado glided from remate to new cite position. It was convincing enough for music and as the trumpet threw the ‘Dávila Miura’ pasodoble to the firmament, we were being granted much more than the circumstances warranted. At least we were granted a demonstration of brilliant temple. He killed with two pinchazos and a three-quarters sword.

13 October – The Last Throw of the Dice in the Long Gamble of the Abonado

It is to be supposed that anyone who buys the fat ticket for the gamble that is a feria de toros in places such as Bilbao or Zaragoza has nobody to blame for his losses but himself. There has been plenty of blame handed out this week as this, “[…] horrible, oh, horrible, most horrible!” of ferias has unfolded. Most of it goes to la Diputación Provincial de Zaragoza and Sr. Carlos Zúñiga and his gang. Despite all that, La Misericordia was full today – there is no lack of afición here – and the atmosphere was electric. We were to have Talavante again, after his not very successful day yesterday, and Ginés Marín in a mano a mano enforced by the exile of Morante and, presumably, the parsimoniousness of the organisers. The bulls were Juan Pedro Domecqs and the sobresaliente Álvaro de la Calle, that man who comes to such events, stands around, and is very seldom asked to play a part. The matadors who cause that to happen deserve a good deal of blame. When he is given a quite, he usually performs it quite well (that will give the spellcheck a headache).

Talavante was in frivolous mode today, one in which Talavante is much more important than bulls or paying public. He opened to his first with a gentle set of proving verónicas, After a first, well organised, delivered, and well taken pic, he took the bull to the middle for a spectacular quite of chicuelinas ended with a serpentina of infinite dimensions. Ginés replied with a more sober set. Fini and Izquierda deserved a salute for their great banderillas, but did not get it. This was a straightforward bull with no obvious evil idiosyncrasies and, while toreando with the right hand, Talavante produced long and templados series of great beauty. He was much more discreet when toreando to the left horn. Indeed, we were in torero in Zaragoza and toro in Huesca territory, the naturales were so despegados. On the one occasion that he got in front of the bull for a cite, he threw it outwards at the end of the pase. He finished the work with an infamous bajonazo, and the president gave him the ear the public were demanding. Three people in tendido 5, two foreigners and a wise aragonese, applauded the judge for not giving the second ear.

It soon became clear that Talavante was not too concerned about the few loyal aficionados who had been suffering for a week or the few toristas above la contraquerencia who still think that the suerte de varas is an important element in a corrida. If this festive Saturday crowd wanted empty spectacle, they could have it. He did shine in his opening verónicas templadas – and how he can shine! The bull was not properly placed for either token pic. The drop to his knees at the beginning of the faena was so calculatedly sudden that it could be heard 40 feet away. The pases de espaldas and derechazos were spectacular and close as Talavante took advantage of the bull’s impetus and the audience’s gullibility. What urged him to torear with the left for a few minutes as an angel might have done was not clear, but his first series was pure toreo and pure delight for all. That seriousness did not last for long and Talavante was soon off into a session of his now familiar despegados derechazos and naturales with much abuse of the pico. His cheeky-child body language and facial expressions proved that he knew exactly what he was doing, milking the crowd. His late accessory work – pases por alto and por bajo, ayudados por bajo – his eyes often raised towards the tendido, achieved his objective. Mission accomplished, he killed with a low sword to be deprived of the two ears the majority wanted. He had the brass neck to take two vueltas. The extremeño had taken the pulse of the crowd: it was racing for him.

The fifth bull was a wild and erratic beast. Talavante flapped it all over the ring; let it career uncontrolled into the horse twice and, in a magic moment, settled it down with, of all thigs, three unpractised zapopinas. There is an entire gallery in the Aguascalientes taurine museum devoted to Alejandro Talavante. I could not understand that when I saw it – now maybe I do. The spectacle continued with four doblones; a kikirikí; and a pase por bajo, all done close to the bull, all frivolous, all show. Then, to put moaners like me in our places, he performed a series of naturales for a textbook. The rest was all arrimón: close, low circular pases, luquesinas, trastos thrown to where they landed, and, when they had been picked up, several pico-laden manoletinas. There was a pinchazo and an estocada and his third ear of the afternoon.

The second bull was so weak it should not have been there. It did charge for some clean and impressive verónicas by Ginés Marín. The pics were a shambles, the brega ragged and a generous quite of gaoneras and afarolados was marred by the fact that Marín did not find the positioning correctly; he was nearly caught in the first pair of lances. The faena, after a regular second suerte, was a frantic affair with sparse content and little structure. On the other hand, Marín was working very hard in his effort to please. His coda of bernadinas and a slightly low sword won him an ear: a kind of A for effort.

The fourth bull was another energetic and fast-moving animal. Things were going well in the opening series of slow, rhythmic, verónicas, but, as the horns yanked the cape from Marín’s hand in a larga, memory of them was obliterated. The bull left that encounter and ran blindly into the barrera: that it survived free of concussion was a miracle. It was left to run at the horse at will. Two badly run suertes de varas by a matador whose father is a picador, may say something about familiar communication. It took an age to restore order. Manuel Punta placed two perfect pairs of banderillas which calmed things down a little. The faena comprised many derechazos de rodillas; a molinete and a brief session of toreo puro. Ginés cited for that en el frente, took the bull round him in slow, close, and clearly linked naturales that were as technically perfect as they were aesthetically beautiful. The way in which this matador swings from ineptitude to perfection is unnerving. One minute, he wanders the foothills with neither plan nor structure; the next, he performs toreo at the summit. He was soon back to his frantic pases to a bull running past him in straight lines, he exerting no more control than the offering of the lure. He ended a work that had transmitted little emotion with a pinchazo and an estocada.

Even the president and his helpers – and they are experts at ignoring the deficiencies of bulls – could not keep the bull destined to end the feria in the ring. The replacement was 602 kilos of ox fit for ploughing or providing meat – it is, after all, the official “Month of the T-bone Steak” in Aragón. It surely was not fit for toreando with its obesity and, as they put it in the vernacular, “muy pobre cara”. The first two suertes were a mess as the horns dug into the ground and the banderilleros failed to make it charge. Pity for Marín swelled. His companion had cut three ears for dancing with cooperative partners. He was trying to torear bovine dross from the dark pit of the Misericordia corrales of 2023; he tried with all his heart, soul, and skill. The bull started to hook upwards in its short half passes: he lifted his eyes to the tendidos in the manner that had won ears earlier. He was wasting time and risking decapitation. Everyone must have been relieved when he killed with three pinchazos delanteros and a three-quarters low sword in a fitting finale to a feria that will go down in history as the first category farce of 2023.

Zaragoza’s Feria del Pilar 2023 (Part II)

Jock Richardson

2024: Decision time for the empresas

Zaragoza’s Feria del Pilar 2023 (Part I)