This year, Albacete once again laid claim to having a bullfight feria more worthy of that of a first class plaza than that of a second class provincial capital bullring. There were 10 events in all (plus a concurso de recortadores) running on consecutive days from September 8-17 and featuring all the leading matadors apart from Morante de la Puebla. The carteles brandished Alejandro Talavante, Juan Ortega, Tomás Rufo, Sebastián Castella, Daniel Luque, Borja Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Perera, Emilio de Justo, Fernando Adrián, Manzanares and Andrés Roca Rey amongst others. But, when it came to awarding prizes at the feria’s end, although Emilio de Justo was adjudged author of the best faena, the awards for best estocada and triunfador de la feria went to the little-known José Fernando Molina.

José Fernando Molina was born in Albacete in March 2000 and was a student at the town’s bullfight school before his first public appearance at the age of 16 at Candelera (Ávila). He debuted with picadors in his home town feria two years later before taking the alternativa, again in Albacete, in September 2022, when El Juli served as padrino and Andrés Roca Rey as téstigo. Three months earlier, he had been carried out on shoulders through the Puerta Grande of Madrid’s Las Ventas following (according to contemporary accounts) a generous award of an ear from each of his bulls. Up until this year, 2022, when he took part in 12 festejos, 10 of these novilladas, and also worked as an installer of metal awnings, was his busiest season con picadores. Last year, he appeared in just four corridas, one at Las Ventas, receiving silence, and the other three (delivering one ear apiece) all in Albacete province.

This year, however, his 2022 total has been surpassed. Now using the apodo Molina and managed by the triumvirate of former matador José Antonio Galdón Niño Belén, Antonio Garzón and Julián García, José Fernando performed five times in the Copa Chenel certamen, cutting ears in each round and finishing as runner-up to Víctor Hernández in the Grand Final. The 24-year-old also achieved puerta grande triumphs at Villarobledo, Tomelloso, Villamalea and Marchamalo and was joint triunfador with Christian Parejo in Bayonne’s six-matador corrida during the city’s Atlantic Feria. After winning three ears in his Albacete feria appearance, his return to Las Ventas on September 22 was confirmed as his 13th corrida this season. It turned out to be a disappointing evening in terms of the bulls, three of the Antonio Bañuelos encierro needing replacement and the first of the two that Molina fought damaging a hoof shortly after the faena began. His other animal lacked the casta needed for a triumph, Molina’s efforts in the capital once again ending to silence.

In terms of style, Molina has a classical approach, rooted in temple, linking and keeping the cloth low, although he is prepared to meet his bulls a portagayola, to torear from on his knees and engage in close arrimón. He maintains a serious disposition, saying, "The fact that I don't laugh [in the plaza] doesn't mean I'm not happy, but you need to concentrate when you finish a good series of passes and you want the next one to be better still.”

With a Madrid breakthrough not achieved this year, it remains to be seen whether Molina’s Albacete success will be regarded by empresarios as one of those little-consequence homegrown triumphs, rather than a springboard to further contracts in 2025, or whether this relatively new matador possesses the necessary qualities to succeed more widely.