Setbacks (2023 Season Review Pt3)
Diego Urdiales had a poor 2023 temporada, finishing 21st in the escalafón with just 13 ears cut from 18 corridas. His season began at Valdemorillo in February, but it was not until 30 July at Azpeitia (his 10th corrida of the year after two unsuccessful appearances both at Sevilla and at Madrid) that he produced his first two-ear faena. There was just one more such success, at Alfaro in August, before Diego closed with his usual strong performances in Logroño, winning two ears on each of his two appearances in the Rioja capital’s feria.
José María Manzanares finished seventh in the escalafón, but averaged less than one ear over the course of his 38 corridas. His best days came early in the season at Illescas, Valencia, Brihuega and Baeza in early May, but then there was a long gap without any two-ear faenas until a splendid September afternoon in Valladolid yielded four ears. Guadalajara, Pozoblanco and Úbeda were the only remaining plazas where the alicantino was carried out on shoulders before the season ended.
Following his successful San Isidro appearances in 2022 and with Simon Casas as his manager, Ángel Téllez needed to continue to make a good impression this year to cement a place on the feria circuit. He had early successes at Villaseca de la Sagra and Mora, but his two spots in San Isidro resulted in a nasty cogida and four silences. Nîmes and Azpeitia produced similar results, while in Dax he heard applause on one of his bulls and pitos at Cuéllar. Single-ear faenas at Illescas, Sangüesa and Fuenlabrada were not enough to rescue his season, Casas letting go of him at the temporada’s end. The toledano, 22nd in the escalafón with 14 ears and a tail from his 17 corridas, may have missed the train for good.
Paco Ureña began the season with two afternoons in Las Fallas, winning an ear on his first and impressing with his bravery in the second (a victorinada) - a facet that was on even more display in a bruising encounter with victorinos in Madrid’s San Isidro feria. He could have reasonably expected such performances to lead to more contracts than the number that materialised. He won an ear in Santander and Albacete, two in San Sebastián and Murcia, but further important afternoons in Bilbao, Madrid and Zaragoza yielded no more than a vuelta in Las Ventas. Twenty-fifth in the escalafón, with 12 ears from 16 corridas, was the unsatisfactory end result.
(Image from blogspot.com)
As the 2022 season ended, Leo Valadez was well on the way to securing a position in Europe’s ferias as the most promising Mexican matador, but he failed to maintain this standing in 2023. Although he won single ears at Olivenza (from a victorino) and Madrid in his first two appearances, he only managed to go out on shoulders thereafter at Istres and Badajoz in June. He won single ears at San Sebastián, Peñaranda de Bracamonte and Cuéllar, but the rest of his corridas (including a return encounter with victorinos at Las Ventas) were disappointing. He finished 31st in the escalafón, with nine ears from 14 corridas.
José Garrido was once considered one of Spain’s most promising young toreros, but this year came 34th in the escalafón with just 13 corridas to his name. Sevilla and Madrid yielded little apart from an early cornada on his second appearance in the latter feria, while his best afternoons came at Arles (where he won an ear from a victorino) and the minor plazas of Tarazona de Aragón and Villarubia de los Ojos. Nine ears was his meagre tally for the year, the extremeño opting for a change of management for 2024.
From 18 corridas in 2022, Román could only manage 10 this year. He did cut an ear in Madrid on the first of two San Isidro appearances and another in Valencia’s July Feria de San Jaime, but his only subsequent successes on this side of the Atlantic came at Robledo de Chavela (four ears) and Utiel (one ear). His final Madrid appearance, against victorinos, resulted in a goring. He, too, has opted for a change of manager for next season.
The author of what many considered to be the best Madrid faena of 2022, Fernando Robleño had a disappointing 2023, his three Las Ventas appearances in May yielding two vueltas on his final adolfo after the president refused him its ear. In Soria in July, another adolfo did give up an ear - Fernando’s only trophy of the season. He was injured in Pamplona and had little to show for his afternoons in Mont de Marsan, Valencia (with miuras) and Dax. After finishing 54th in the escalafón, Robleño’s recent decision to take on the role of teacher at Madrid’s escuela taurina is perhaps an indication that his active days as a matador de toros are now mainly behind him.