Long-standing readers of the Club Taurino of London’s magazine, La Divisa, will recall that, for many years, the September/October issue would invariably feature a report by me of Santander’s bullfight feria. I started going to the city’s feria in the late 1980s, attracted by its length and tendency to not put a torero on twice, the ease of getting there, its coastal location and the then relatively cheap hotels. Although the weather can be notoriously fickle (I’ve spent whole weeks there under grey cloud before now, relieved that the bullring has excellent drainage), it became my ‘beach bum’ holiday, ideally going to the beach during the day before attending the afternoon corrida.

Over the years, the trip morphed; two hotels shut down, and I now stay in comfort in one of the city’s most expensive ones; my experience of Santander’s many restaurants grew, so now it’s become a week of fine dining; the feria became an opportunity for an annual catch-up with Jock and Nancy Richardson and eventually part of a longer trip we’d do together that could encompass the French plazas of Mont de Marsan, St Vincent de Tyrosse and Orthez and the Spanish rings of Tudela, San Adrian, Lodosa and Azpeitia. Although I missed a few years (including the year of Joselito’s great faena there that became the only non-Madrid or Sevilla performance to be included in the book Grandes Faenas del Siglo XX), Santander’s July feria continued to attract me, and I would look forward to the prospect of revisiting the city and the carteles being announced in June as San Isidro drew to a close.

All that, of course, ended with the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but that year not being there wasn’t so bad as the feria was cancelled too. This year has been trickier, as a four-corrida feria was announced with good carteles (including four encastes), but, for personal as well as pandemic reasons, I knew that getting to Spain before September or October (and perhaps not even then) was an impossibility.

So I was delighted when Movistar’s Canal Plaza Toros announced it would be showing three of the four events (Andrés Roca Rey wants to limit his televised appearances, which was apparently the reason the fourth corrida was not shown).

In recent years, we’ve foregone the corrida de rejones and I did so again this year except for a quick check to see whether our usual seats in fila 2 of Tendido 7 were occupied. Rejoneo has always been popular in Santander, and, although capacity was limited this year due to the virus, there was good attendance for this event and, indeed, the others. Diego Ventura, once again, was the triunfador.

The foot toreo began with a corrida of Puerto de San Lorenzo/Ventana del Puerto bulls for Morante de la Puebla, Diego Urdiales and Pablo Aguado. In fact, Morante had only one atanasio to face (see my earlier blog ‘Morante widens his scope’), his second bull being a Ventana del Puerto domecq: both his animals looked more like novillos than toros. Unfortunately, the corrida began in a bit of a dust cloud (a rarity for Santander’s plaza), but watering of the arena eventually achieved normality.

One of the commentators - doubtless armed with facts and figures such as the numbers of ears cut - said that Morante had not had successful afternoons in Santander, but I could remember at least two excellent appearances there. This afternoon, he did seem different than usual, smiling in the sunshine pre-paseíllo and prepared to try with the two animals before him despite some initial off-putting moments. He was nearly caught during a verónica to his first and suffered two desarmes, but nevertheless produced a faena in one area of the plaza that included one excellent series of derechazos and some templados naturales. There was another loss of the capote with his second bull, but Morante performed a quite of regal chicuelinas before the banderillas were placed and he dedicated to a spectating Jaime Ostos. This bull (unlike his first) was a charger and sent its matador crashing to the ground when a rear leg caught him during a pase de pecho. But Morante went on to execute exquisite derechazos and a serpentina, naturales (persisting even though linked passes were harder to secure on the bull’s left horn), a farol and pases ayudados. A pinchazo, media estocada and two descabellos diluted the sevillano’s performance, but there was plenty to be pleased about.

The day’s only ear-winner was Diego Urdiales, who, with his first animal, produced stylish derechazos and some gentle naturales, closing with molinetes and chest passes, before killing with a no-nonsense estocada. His other animal (the second and final atanasio of the afternoon) stumbled throughout its lidia and offered little chance of success. Again, the sword was well-placed. Pablo Aguado showed occasional temple and naturalness in passes on his two domecqs, but both his faenas were inconsistent, some passes given closely and others distant.

Prior to the next day’s televised corrida, I held a Zoom tertulia with Jock and Nancy, where we agreed that the previous afternoon’s corrida would have given us plenty to talk about afterwards over gins-and-tonics in Bar Jamaica, a few minutes’ walk from the plaza, before going into the centre of the city for a slap-up meal. All of us are hoping to get to Spain sometime this year, the Richardsons perhaps as soon as August.

Friday’s affair featured Finito de Córdoba (substituting for Enrique Ponce), Emilio de Justo and Ginés Marín with a fine string of Torrealta bulls. This was not one of the veteran Finito’s glorious days, although there were glimpses of what he can do with his second bull; bronca y división. But the rest of the corrida turned into a fascinating duel between de Justo and Marín as to who would end up as triunfador de la tarde.

This was actually de Justo’s second corrida of the day, as he’d travelled to Santander from Mont de Marsan, where he’d taken part in a morning corrida. His first bull was described as a ‘colorado’, but, to my eyes, was a ‘melocotón’, impressive-looking but distracted and charging uncertainly to start with. Emilio managed some chicuelinas, Morenito de Arles won applause for his banderillas, and a brindis al público was followed by a faena de menos a más. The matador kept the bull close, frequently citing when the animal’s horns were just inches away from his chest, and produced some great derechazos and naturales at maximum exposition. The bull tired towards the faena’s end, needing lots of encouragement for a closing series of de frente derechazos, the sword cast aside. Then de Justo cited for a superb estocada caída, the bull not coming forward at all and one of its horns catching one of its killer’s arms at the moment of engagement. The first ear of the day was won.

Ginés Marín has gone out on shoulders each time he’s appeared at Santander and today was to continue that sequence. He started by getting down on his knees for verónicas, then ended the opening capework with chicuelinas and a closing larga cambiada, back down on those knees, in the ring’s centre! The quite featured a combination of chicuelinas and tafalleras (one given whilst looking at the tendidos), while the faena was begun with passes, including molinetes, performed with the feet together. This bull had a strong charge and Ginés made the most of it, citing from a distance for series of derechazos and naturales. The faena was a long one, the bull weak-footed at times, the quality of the muletazos becoming increasingly variable, but Marín ended with close bernadinas and a desplante. After an aviso sounded, he threw himself over the bull’s horns for the kill. Unsurprisingly, the people of Santander awarded him both ears.

Now Emilio was behind - how would he respond? The answer was some excellent verónicas and a superb faena (despite the increasing breeze) consisting solely of the classic passes brilliantly executed, de Justo passing the bull closely, curving it around him and bringing it back again for the next pass. Another excellent estocada brought a merited two ears.

Now it was Marín (who is making a strong case this season for a regular spot in the carteles of the leading ferias) who was behind. The sixth torrealta was a more complicated animal, so Ginés put aside the tremendismo of his earlier faena and concentrated on the basics, achieving series and killing strongly to secure a further ear and equal de Justo’s tally.

Whether either torero will be adjudged the feria triunfador remains to be seen as Miguel Ángel Perera - a longstanding Santander favourite - also cut three ears from La Quinta bulls the following afternoon, while Roca Rey and Paco Ureña (who narrowly escaped a cornada after a mortally wounded bull chased him to the barrera) cut one each.

I suspect we may have made the same decision as the Movistar crew and missed this corrida, however, in favour of seeing Pedraza de Yeltes bulls at Mont de Marsan. Here, viewers were treated to a different type of corrida altogether - huge, impressive, large-horned bulls bringing drama to las varas and posing challenges for Domingo López Chaves, Alberto Lamelas and Gómez del Pilar. It was Lamelas who most rose to the challenge, particularly on his first bull, bringing off magnificent passes despite the strength of his opponent. After meeting both his animals a portagayola, he ended the day with a puntazo and oreja from each bull. Each of his animals was deservedly awarded a vuelta en arrastre and the corrida ended with the mayoral accompanying Lamelas out of the plaza on shoulders.

The streamed weekend had been a satisfying one in terms of toreo. However, I’m still left pining for Santander, wondering how the people I know there - like the newsvendor I buy papers from each morning, the staff at Bar Jamaica, a hotel receptionist aficionado, the jefe of the chiringuito at El Puntal and several others - have coped with the pandemic, and wishing I was back there, enjoying the seaside, savouring the city and watching the bulls once more in that beautifully decorated bullring. Hopefully, that will be achieved next July, when the 2022 Feria de Santiago comes around.