La Copa Chenel spreads its wings
Although San Isidro’s carteles are disappointing, fortunately there are other shows in town. The recent announcement of a revival of Vistalegre’s ‘La Oportunidad’ tradition of novilladas sin picadores by la Comunidad de Madrid (CAM) and la Federación del Toro de Lidia (FTL) is to be welcomed. The certamen, under the title of ‘Kilómetro Cero’, will take the form of two events, each featuring six novilleros, on February 24 and 25 and a ‘gran final’ on February 26 featuring the six most promising performers. Cattle from two ganaderías will feature in each novillada.
La Copa Chenel, another joint production by the CAM (through its Centro de Asuntos Taurinos) and the FTL, also looks particularly promising this year with the announcement of its 18 participants (see picture above). The criteria for toreros seeking to take part in the 2023 version of the competition were as follows:
Their alternativa must have been later than l 1 January 2011.
They must have finished outside of the top 20 of the 2022 escalafón.
They must not have appeared four or more times in a first class plaza in France or Spain in 2022.
They must, prospectively, be a new Copa Chenel participant.
Notwithstanding these criteria, the organisers reserved the right to choose one former participant in the series if it was felt repeat inclusion was justified, and they could also select, in exceptional circumstances, up to two toreros who didn’t fulfil the competition’s basic criteria. In the end, over 100 toreros applied to take part.
The end result is an intriguing mix of mainly young toreros, some of whom already have a significant profile. Two of them - Isaac Fonseca and Francisco José Espada - even have places in this year’s highly select San Isidro feria. Juan de Castilla and Adriano (the new apodo for Adrien Salenc) are well thought of in their home countries of Colombia and France and, together with Fonseca, bring a welcome international flavour to the series. Juan del Álamo (alternativa July 2011 and returning to the bullrings after a year’s absence) and Borja Jiménez (alternativa April 2015) have both been around for some time. Three of the contestants - Fonseca, Manuel Perera and Calerito - have previously been regional winners of the FTL’s Circuito de Novilladas.
Two participants - Diego Carretero and Juan Miguel - have technically been in the competition before, although their planned involvement in last year’s Copa Chenel was, in both cases, thwarted through injury. An exceptional decision has been taken this time to include an alternativa in the series, that of Fernando Plaza. He was the novillero triunfador of the San Isidro feria of 2019, only to fracture his jaw in a voltereta at Moralzarzal later that season and then split with his manager and not appear in public again for almost two and a half years.
Fernando Plaza
The format of this year’s competition remains the same as last year, involving 11 corridas - six heats, three semi-finals, a final with three matadors and then a grand final involving a mano a mano between the judging panel’s top two participants. The FTL is now inviting bids from plazas in Madrid Province to put on the festejos. It’s intended that the corridas should commence in March and the grand final take place mid-May.
Club Taurino 3 Puyazos’ 2023 feria
Whilst on the subject of welcome initiatives, let’s give a shout-out too to the Club Taurino 3 Puyazos, who base their productions very much on the French model - a broad programme of activities (scheduled by aficionados and including book selling and gastronomy) featuring interesting encastes with untouched horns and a focus on all three tercios. The Club has announced a ‘Feria del Aficionado’ of festejos at San Agustín de Guadalix (just outside Madrid) for a second year. The 2023 weekend will feature three events - a May 6 morning novillada of animals from Barcial and Paloma Sánchez Rico for Leandro Gutiérrez and the Portuguese João D´Alva, followed by a corrida of bulls from Dolores Aguirre and José Escolar for Joselillo, Damián Castaño and Ángel Sánchez, plus a May 7 morning corrida of Reta de Casta Navarra bulls, to be faced by Sánchez Vara and Octavio Chacón.