Impressions from la trama final de San Isidro 2023 (Part I)

Jock Richardson

I seem to remember being uncharitable to Sebastièn Castella for his spring performances in the Levant. I was ready to repeat the rant, “he is still linear, distant, apparently risk-taking, and very, very, repetitive” after his first bull on 19 May. And then! He took me back to that very wet night in 2007 when he did perform toreo that must have made the angels jealous, in a performance that led Andrew Moore and me to agree that as aficionados we had no right to expect anything better. All of which reminded me: there are no bad bulls, just bulls with different characteristics; there are no negative toreros who try to defraud their audiences, just toreros who are out of sorts or out of luck on a particular day or just past their sell-by date. Everything does not turn out well every afternoon for toreros, ganaderos, aficionados, and others involved in la fiesta brava. And we should be glad that it does not. If every performance was perfect, we would soon get bored. On the other hand, we should be grateful for the many good impressions left with us.

Castella

Things came together for Sebastien Castella and his second bull on the day under scrutiny. Having performed with his first in his customary erect, linear and apparently careless style, he saw the virtues of his second Jandilla early and proceeded to build a faena of a seriousness and purity the likes of which is seldom seen. He did have to move from place to place now and then, because the wind was brutal, but there were long periods of toreo in the same region of the ring. In those phases, Castella was relaxed as he performed series of orthodox pases interlaced with changes of hand and, towards the end, the accessory manoletinas, for once an appropriate coda. And, best of all, an explosive estocada for two ears and la Puerta Grande.

Neither Manzanares nor Pablo Aguado had notable moments on Castella’s resurrection day.

On 21 May a lot of Fuente Ymbros were faced by Adrian de Torres, a seldom seen matador, Juan Leal and the Mexican Leo Valadez. With the violent wind, the need for de Torres to succeed, Juan Leal’s selflessly exposed brave toreo and a Mexican out to make a mark, it was a heady mixture. Leal tried in his way to dominate two ancient pupils of Gallardo, each nigh on six years old and each advanced in Latin, but it all ended in an arrimón to his second more impressive for its rejection by 6 and 7 than its indubitable bravery.

Bravery was the keyword of the corrida. Adrian de Torres, 33 -year-old and with 11 years of alternativa, was clearly desperate to convince and was doing so in some incredibly close chicuelinas when the toro found a gap between cape and leg and created the spectacle of a torero spinning first heavenward, then earthward, in a fearful voltereta. He was tossed again, to a communal sigh, as he exposed himself in the faena. He managed to kill the bull and returned to torear his second with courage but without success.

Leo Valadez (image from torosyfaenas.com.mex)

Leo Valadez is another with courage by the kiloton. It might have been foreseen that a Mexican placed in Madrid would provide spectacle. Valadez gave us spectacle plus. His orticinas and crinolinas with the capote to his third, a bull awfully near jubilación age, were pictures for carteles and his serious faena – cites de frente, orthodox pases complete in structure and rhythmic in execution and a conclusion of forgivable manoletinas de rodillas was Mexico personified. He was awarded an ear. With that in his esportón, he was destined to giving his all with the sixth. The main gate may have been hidden behind the flaring cape of his early zapopinas but hopes for it loomed large. But man merely proposes. The disposition came when the bull injured itself in a collision with the boards during the banderillas, lost the strength in its legs, and made sure there would be no triumphal exit.

Not for the three novilleros on 23 May 23 the quick solo passage through montajes in plazas de primera and piles of press publicity to Las Ventas. No, Jorge Martínez, Jorge Molina and Sergio Rodríguez have fought their way to Madrid, often in competition with others, via such novillero forges as Villaseca de la Sagra, Guadarrama, Calasparra, Arnedo, Arganda del Rey, and Cenicientos in the Valley of Terror. Do I have a bee in my bonnet? You bet I do!

Jorge Martínez

The novillada should have been a triumphal one. Here we had three experienced novilleros, an audience of at least two thirds of a plaza, and a lote of Montealto novillos that, though by no means uniformly noble and encastados, should have given no trouble to these three experienced lads. And indeed, they gave them little trouble. But it was wet and cold; the wind blew as it was blowing its last; the audience was fractious; and all fizzled out like a wet squib. But there was enough fine toreo on show to suggest that we may look forward to seeing those three doing interesting things in future. Each one showed leaning towards the classical; each found the cite distance accurately; each prolonged the passes. All are confident and Rodríguez has a flamboyant style fore fronting that confidence. The memorable part: watching three brave toreros in a rainstorm giving a demonstration of pundonor, and the sight of three novilleros who did not appear in a school-taught style to be exactly the same guy.

Francisco José Espada (image from soydemadrid.com)

On 24 May El Payo passed through las Ventas on his only visit to San Isidro with more grief than glory and Francisco José Espada ignored a wound inflicted by, one might even say invited from, his first bull. The tossing was violent, and it was by cold-blooded courage that the lad continued till the end, all the while trying to please. Perhaps influenced by that courage, and by some smooth fundamental passes, very close to the majority petitioned for an ear. The President denied it and in his second Espada resorted to toreo de rodillas, linear vertical pases and personal exposure to prove that the authority had got it wrong. He might have succeeded had he killed properly, but various attempt with the sword left him limping to the infirmary leaving the audience with impressions of guts, ambition, developing skill, and a future full of possibilities.

Román

I have never heard an aficionado friend say a good word about Román. For me it is hard not to feel sympathetic towards a torero I saw snatched up; by Simon Casas and Santiago López half-way through his debut novillada in Valencia; followed him through appearances en la setmana de bous in Algemesí, in Bilbao, and Valencia; has always found him to be muy amiable in conversation; has seen him take on bulls hard, big and difficult; not to have very sympathy for him. He may smile but he is not a grinning ape; he may be disorganised, but he is not incompetent. Even though his work to the Luis Algarras that afternoon was based more on guts than genius, he well deserved his saludos for his first and his ear for the second.

For me the corrida of 25 May was memorable for all the wrong reasons, bringing together so many of the things that take the shine off the fiesta. I have laboured from a misapprehension for years, assuming that when Fraile bulls appear before me I am watching animals of the Atanasio line. On reading today’s programme, I found that they have been dripping domecq blood into their products for years. Which made the results of the “sorteo” seem strange. Manzanares drew a valdefresno, an atanasio, and a la ventana del puerto, a domecq; Roca Rey drew two from the domecq ganadería and Emilio de Justo faced two Puerto de San Lorenzo bulls of Atanasio/Lisardo Sánchez origin. It would take an actuary to work out the odds of the sorteo throwing up the lots as they emerged; they seemed strange to me. That I tend to agree with the denizens of Tendido 7 and its adjacent tendidos in their scepticism about señoritos toreros, escalafón toppers and doubtful plaza filling figurones, does not necessarily make them right and it certainly doesn’t make their behaviour totally acceptable. Manzanares with his casually repetitive faenas, apparent lack of ambition and quick surrenders when things do not work out as he had hoped and Roca Rey’s failure to deliver authentic toreo in impressive quantities makes their booing, meowing, tango-clapping, and “novillero”/” novillo” shouting understandable. The Las Ventas silence has descended several times this week, for Leo Valadez, for Román and today for Emilio de Justo during his faena. It is a silence worth all the silver of the Indies and a memorable feature of the bullring. And just as impressive, but not so suspensefully-elevating, is la voz in contra from high in the offending tendidos that fractures that silence and brings everyone back down to earth.

Emilio de Justo

Emilio de Justo’s faena to his second was memorable for the right reasons. The authoritative low verónicas with which he welcomed his atanasio were a sign of intent. The faena started with low derechazos and de Justo soon had the bull entirely under his control. From then on, we saw a faena of linked templados pases, all done in a small space under tendido 6, the whole building in a crescendo of creation: series after series of linked derechazos and naturales. All required by the end was a successful estocada. It came, but not till after a pinchazo.

There must be a reason for why a complete faena of toreo de verdad under tendido 7 should only win a scatter of applause and a minority petition. It is beyond my pay grade to provide an explanation.