La Feria del Aficionado 2024: Huevos pasados por agua
Roy Gittings
Las varas - the focus of the Feria del Aficionado
This year saw the third edition of this feria held in the plaza de toros of San Agustín de Guadalix, some 35km north of Madrid: it is the first I have attended. The organisers are members of the Peña Taurina 3 Puyazos, whose web page is 3puyazos.com. Its aim is to promote corridas with integral bulls, with a focus on the suerte de varas, similar to corridas held in France in plazas such as Céret. Needless to say, the theme is torista, with the valiant toreros taking a back seat.
This year, the feria covered a weekend with a novillada and two corridas de toros. The plaza was almost full for each event. Unfortunately, the weather was quite unkind on the first day with rain and high winds. However, not one aficionado left his seat.
The novillada began at noon on Saturday 27 April with bulls of the ganaderías of Isaías and Tulio Vázquez (lauded in the book Bulls of Iberia by Angus Macnab) and Raso de Portillo, both Vistahermosa bloodlines: Vázquez from the Pedrajas encaste and Raso from Santa Coloma. The novilleros were João D’Alva (Setubal, 24 April 2000) dressed in lila y plata and Miguel Andrades (Jerez, 25 August 1995) in burdeos y oro. Unfortunately, with their present contractual commitments, both novilleros will take a long time to reach matador de toros status.
The first bull, ‘Infante’, corniabierto, was a Tulio and came out running as fast as a bullet train. It threw its horns at the burladero of the toreros and ran to another one as soon as called, but, this time, its right horn smashed the refuge so hard it broke at the base. What a shame we could not see its complete performance.
The substitute was also a Tulio by the name of ‘Lorito’, with corniabierto delantero horns. Its behaviour, however, was reservón in both capotes and muleta. It took its three pics well, charging from the centre of the ring and pushing. The two novilleros, who placed excellent sticks, shared the tercio de banderillas. The faena de muleta consisted of single passes with the bull wanting out after the second tanda. The kill was with an estocada delantera y perpendicular accompanied by a descabello.
The second novillo, ‘Llorón’, was also a Tulio that charged well in the tercio de capotes, although it kept its head high. A series of verónicas by Andrades terminated with a chicuelina and a revolera in the centre of the ring with ‘Llorón’ in perfect position for its first trip to the horse. It pushed quite well, but the pic, administered by the seasoned Aurelio Cruz, sapped its strength and, although it went another two times, the pics were placed in the ribcage which then determined the low quality faena de muleta. Andrades was quite voluntarioso, but with a reservón bull there was little to cheer about. ‘Llorón’ eventually found its way to the toriles and the novillero had a great deal of difficulty killing, with three estocadas and several thrusts of the verduguillo. Surprisingly, there were palmas for the novillo.
The first novillo from Raso de Portillo, ‘Abubillo’, was a santacoloma cárdeno but displayed the same qualities as his cousins the Tulios in that it was very wary of charging the cape and muleta. It did, however, charge the horse three times from the centre of the ring, but then failed to push. The sobresaliente, Borja Ximelis, was invited to perform a quite of verónicas. The faena de muleta was quite long with ‘Abubillo’ displaying nobility but little else. Two pinchazos and a media were required to dispatch the novillo.
As Miguel Andrades walked towards the gate of the toril, the heavens opened. Fortunately, ‘Sordillo’ was frank and followed the capote as it flew over the novillero’s shoulder. A good series of verónicas followed, but ‘Sordillo’ held its head high and there was little emotion transmitted to the tendidos. Three puyazos followed, with the novillo running from the centre of the ring but failing to engage well with the horse. The faena was mainly with the left hand at mid-height and single passes, with the novillo failing to follow through at the embroque. After lining up the novillo for the kill, Andrades threw himself directly at ‘Sordillo’’s head, receiving a tremendous blow, but, fortunately, not with a horn. He fell, inert, to the sand and it took a while to bring him round to finally deliver a single descabello. The matador paraded an ear in a triumphant vuelta. The novillos from both ganaderías displayed more defensive than attacking qualities, and the novillada was interesting more than exciting for the aficionado.
The Saturday afternoon paseíllo (l-r: Morenito de Aranda, Ángel Sánchez, Javier Sánchez Vara)
The afternoon session was another ‘desafio’ with bulls from the ranches of Conde de la Corte and the temibles Palhas. However, the results were not on par with expectations. The first bull of the afternoon was a condeso by the name of ‘Chaqueta’, which was small with corniabierto horn formation. Its matador was Javier Sánchez Vara (dressed in gris perla y oro), who received it with a larga cambiada de rodillas followed by verónicas. The reticence of ‘Chaqueta’ to take part in its lidia was evident from the first puyazo, although it did go to the horse from the centre of the ring three times somewhat reluctantly. The work of the picador, Adrián Navarrete, did not help matters either. The matador placed three good pairs of banderillas but overextended the laborious faena, hearing an aviso and killing after three attempts with the sword and two descabellos.
The fourth of the afternoon was from the ranch of Palha and was applauded on its entrance to the ring, but was shy in charging the capotes and the horse, although it did go four times to much applause. Picador Navarrete confirmed that this was not his day. After three good pairs of banderiilas, Sánchez Vara worked hard to construct a faena which dragged on too long, and, again, he heard an aviso. We saw many single passes trying to coach ‘Carpetista’ to charge the muleta, but to no avail. A pinchazo and an estocada tendida ended the faena.
The second bull was a lean castaño chorreado Palha with horns held quite high; it received applause on its entry. However, before it completed its first vuelta, the pañuelo verde was being waived, with everyone asking the same question: why? Its replacement was a condeso called ‘Lisonjero’: it was quite anovillado, but stayed in the ring. Although it was reticent going to the capotes, it did go three times to the horse, running from one side of the ring to the other in the third. It charged well in banderillas and its matador, Jesús Martínez Morenito de Aranda, began with some good tanteo teaching ‘Lisonjero’ how to follow the muleta. With the bull lacking stamina, Morenito had to work quite hard and applied himself well, but there was no emotion transmitted to the tendidos. He killed with a pinchazo and an estocada delantera baja.
‘Petaquito’ of Conde de la Corte came out in fifth place and the tanda de capotes was somewhat chaotic. However, ‘Petaquito’ did go five times to the picador, Iván Marugán, and his mount ‘Aire’, with each entry better than the previous one; the last one galloping from the other side of the arena. It also galloped well in the first stages of the faena de muleta, but lost stamina and Morenito finished with a media estocada.
Ángel Sánchez (dressed in blanco y negro), third on the bill, drew another condeso called ‘Cerillo’ for his first of the day. Capotes were nondescript, but on its first entry to the horse, it threw the picador, Jesús Vicente. On its second entry, it did push, but with its head high, and the third was pure formality. It was placed for a fourth, but refused. Sánchez dedicated the bull, thinking it had something in it, but was thwarted. On jurisdicción, ‘Cerillo’ would stop charging and turn on a sixpence, ready to hinder the next pass. It eventually found its way to the gate of the toril and met with an estocada contraria and a descabello.
The final bull of the afternoon, ‘Fumante’, negro mulato like its brothers, charge well in capotes and in its three trips to the horse. However, the reliable picador, Israel de Pedro, did not have a good day, piccing to any part of the body except the back of the morrillo. In the faena de muleta, ‘Fumante’ was noble, but there was no emotion flowing from the arena. The faena was long, with the matador appearing to enjoy his work, which ended in a bajonazo.
At almost nine o’clock in the evening and after three hours of the corrida, the aficionados started filing out of the plaza complaining about the cold and the bulls, with the organisers apologising for the corrida which had not met expectations.
The end of the paseíllo on Sunday morning
At noon the following day, the weather had improved a great deal, with the sun shining, the wind had dropped and the clouds were now rolling by. Today, the bill announced bulls of Dolores Aguirre with matadors Sergio Serrano (ocre y oro), Damian Castaño (azul cobalto y oro ) and Francisco Montero (blanco y plata). The ganadera, Isabel Lipperheide, daughter of Dolores, took a seat just behind the presidente, Victor Ferra. This ganadería, a favourite of torista aficionados, comes from the regal Vistahermosa line comprising sementales and vacas of Conde de la Corte and Atanasio Fernández.
The first of the afternoon was ‘Pitillito’, number 28, which ran smoothly in the verónicas of Sergio Serrano. In the first three puyazos, it galloped from the centre of the ring, but the the picador, Benedicto Cedillo, was not quite on target, with the vara of the puya splitting on the third charge. The fourth charge was from the gate of the toriles and, this time, the picador was on target but administered only a light picotazo. Three pairs of banderillas were placed, although the bull stopped at jurisdicción, making things difficult for the banderilleros. In the faena de muleta, ‘Pitillito’ went well, lowering its head, although it did not follow the muleta round the body of the matador. Sergio performed four tandas with both hands, but needed two pinchazos and an estocada entera to kill the bull. ‘Pitillito’ died with its mouth closed and left the ring to a grand ovation.
All eyes were on Damian Castaño as he crossed the ring to meet ‘Cañonero’ in front of the gate of the toril. The larga was successful and the following capework was brief, with ‘Cañonero’ charging well. It made three excellent trips galloping to the horse, with well-placed pics from picador Juan Francisco Peña. Three excellent pairs of sticks were placed with perfect lidia by banderillero Antonio Chacón, who received a deserved round of applause. Damian dedicated the death of the bull to its ganadera and walked to the centre of the ring, where we were treated to four wonderful tandas with the encastado bull charging from afar and its matador keeping control of the charge with fine temple. Neighbours commented that the matador was bull-drunk, which was probably true because Damian lined the bull up for the kill, threw away the muleta and tried to guide its head with his left hand. What appeared to be a serious cornada to the inside of his right leg turned out to be a serious bump, with Damian having difficulty standing. It took four descabellos to down ‘Cañonero’, which was awarded a vuelta al ruedo or arrastre lento which reminded me of the Mexican song Cuando vuelva a tu lado transformed into English as What a difference a day makes. Indeed, today's atmosphere was so much different from yesterday's.
‘Cigarrero’, number 30 and third of the afternoon, was applauded for its trapío on entering the ring and Francisco Montero performed some well-controlled veronicas, although the bull held its head high. It galloped four times to the horse, at first from the centre of the ring and then from the gate of the toril. In all four visits, the picador, Antonio Peralta, received a huge round of applause. Three good pairs of banderillas were placed, with ‘Cigarrero’ cooperating very well in the suerte. However, the suertes with picador and banderillas took its toll and Montero, who took his alternativa less that two years ago, began to lose control with the bull tiring very quickly. The matador heard two avisos before the bull finally dropped.
Another ‘Pitillito’, number 20, was fourth of the afternoon and a fine looking castaño, chorreado en verdugo with corneabierto veleto horns. However, it was manso encastado and things ended before they began. Serrano, with many years of alternativa under his belt, could not control the initial capework and, although it went four times to the horse, the bull never once pushed, although it did upend the horse on its final visit. Panic was the norm in banderillas. The faena was difficult and almost impossible to get the bull to charge the muleta. Finally an estocada contraria felled this ‘Pitillito’.
Damian Castaño, minus his chaquetilla, had triumph written on his forehead as he crossed the ring to the toril, but ‘Cigarrero’, number 32 and a jabonero, had other ideas. It came out very warily, failed to charge and caught Damian twice, breaking a few ribs and meteing out a good beating. Sergio Serrano took charge of proceedings. In capotes, the bull lowered its head, as it did in the first of three pics, but panic broke out in banderillas with many attempts to place a single stick. The faena de muleta began with Sergio administering a lot of passes de tanteo, with ‘Cigarrero’ failing to produce anything positive. Only one tanda of any note was achieved, with slow naturales. Sergio placed a single estocada, which fell low, but ‘Cigarrero’ resisted death quite heroically.
‘Burgalito’, a berrendo en negro with wide veleto horns, was the last bull of this extremely interesting feria. It was abanto in the initial cape play, but, as it gained confidence, it lowered its head. Four pics were administered, with ‘Burgalito’ charging buoyantly from the other side of the arena. It was difficult to get the bull into suerte for the banderillas, but three good pairs were placed, with Francisco Javier Tornay saluting montera en mano. Francisco Montero gained confidence in each tanda, eventually citing from a distance and controlling the low charge around his body. He gave a good estocada, but ‘Burgalito’ took time to drop, and when the tercero went to administer the puntilla, it found strength to get back to its feet. It performed this ritual four times before it finally sent its soul to the pantheon of brave bulls. This was a fitting end to a feria dedicated to brave bulls and all in attendance stood and applauded bulls, toreros and organisers, while the mayoral took a trip around the ring.
The mayoral of Dolores Aguirre was given a vuelta
The prize for best picador went to Antonio Peralta and that for best banderillero went to Francisco Javier Tornay.
This feria is recommended to all aficionados.
[Photos taken by María Elena Gittings]