Jock Richardson

26 May – Diego Ventura is not God (nor the Ángel Gabriel) after all; Mansedumbre Still Reigns in Las Ventas

In my long and interesting life, I have only been on a horse twice. The first time, aged 14, I fell off immediately; the second time, aged 80 and desperate to achieve at least some right to evaluate rejoneadores, I paid 100 dollars to a “riding school” in New Zealand. I even bought the hat to wave as I rode over river and plain as an accomplished horseman shouting “Yehaw!” They gave me the oldest horse in the stable and never let me off the lead. This aficionado knows how genuine horsemen should be admired. He also knows a fracaso when he sees one.

There is no doubt that Diego Ventura is a very accomplished horseman. And he has the advantage over the Dauphin that he has not one “most absolute and excellent horse,” but a whole stable of them. I have seen him twice in the past year: when he was awarded a tail in Las Ventas, and in Castellón in the spring. On these two occasions he did little, as I understand rejoneo, to make me think that he was other than a master of the art. Today, he made me wonder.

His first bull was a stump-horned 560 kilo Murube of El Capea with a remarkable capacity to charge. Ventura gently brought it into focus with circular rides in each direction, templando perfectly with horns at the stirrup. When he rode round the ring from right to left through 540 degrees and back through another 180 degrees, sometimes in the mendozina style with the bull’s head to the horse’s flank and sometimes with its head buried in the horse’s tail, it was mighty impressive stuff. That he allowed the horns to hit his horse’s rear-end several times was less so – I think it was reprehensible. If the rejoneador is supposed to place the rejón when the bull’s horns are level with the estribo from a horizontally held arm, Diego has not been reading the same books I have. His first rejón was placed with the horns at the horse’s rear-end and fell very low. He was a caballo pasado when he placed the next. The first banderilla was placed de frente – well, it was not placed, he missed with it, again with his horse well past the desirable point. It took him two missed attempts a cuarteo before he got the next banderillas placed. And then, the bull well-tired, he placed two rosettes that had almost the entire audience on their feet. Sunday afternoon in Las Ventas is not a time for grumbling old pedants, of course, and, had Diego not failed by placing his rejón de muerte too far back, even his unconditional supporters couldn’t get him an ear. The fourth bull was paraded in Ventura’s inimitable circular dance, all precision and temple. He got his first rejón de castigo in on a very horizontal path as the horse drifted away from the bull’s flank. He tried to cite for the second weapon with his horse at one side of the ring and the bull at the other. Whether it was the bull’s position not far from los toriles that led to his having to ride to within three metres of it to make it move, was not clear. He was almost on its nose before it charged. The whole set-up paraphernalia had been for nothing. The ring circling was much less with this bull - he stopped after 240 degrees; the work was much cleaner and more secure and suited to the bull rather than the audience. His first banderilla was placed in a late, tight, quiebro that was perfect. The removal of the reins was fiddly and time consuming and the placement of a pair of banderillas after a completely missed pair was perfect. Once again Diego Ventura had won 24,000 hearts. The horse’s circus-type departure from the ring had a positive effect as, no doubt, did the ‘horse bites bull’ act which seemed to please everyone but me. This had been a much more compact and purposeful piece of work and Ventura might have got at least one ear had he not hit bone three times before placing his rejón.

It seems to me that Diego Ventura is poised to take the throne of the world’s best rejoneador, a throne he might have won ages ago had he been allowed to compete directly with Pablo de Mendoza. Let’s hope he wins it as a rejoneador rather than as a purveyor of circus tricks.

Cayetano was severely knocked around on Thursday by a Conde de Mayalde bull. He was treated for wounds and bruises in the upper torso, at the base of his spine, in his right thigh and his scrotum. It may have been the draw of the thousands who still adore him or the thought of a no hay billetes afternoon, but, for whatever reason, his brave comeback was to his credit. And so was the way he dealt with the first bull with which he was faced. It was 588 kilos’ worth of Montalvo dynamic cowardice. It entered with its feet thrusting forward and it head hooking upwards and it skidded weakly in the early lances. The first bit of bad picing came when Pedro Geniz took the bull between the rings. The second pic was much better done, and Rafael Rosa placed a great pair of sticks. There was very little in this bull and Cayetano, the great professional, took out what it had as briefly and cleanly as possible: some low doblones fighting the wind, a set of elegant feet-together naturales ended with a brilliant chest pase, one distant linked series with each hand and an estocada en los agujas. The fifth bull was not worthy of the name and was dealt with accordingly: a single welcoming flap of the cape; a collapse under the horse and a second entry with no pic; a capea of a suerte de banderillas before a faena that had some, not very memorable, content. Cayetano opened with a variety of high and low pases such as ayudados, derechazos and a molinete. Then he was off into that sterile desert of distant pases done from fuera de cacho and expedient flaps of the muleta taken at what appeared to be pure random. There are rumours that Cayetano will soon retire. Perhaps his time has come.

Ginés Marín’s welcome to his first stumbling Montalvo was well done: templadas and well-structured verónicas a pleasing creation. The bull lumbered into the horse and leaned lazily against a nondescript pic. Its weakness emerged again when it fell in a heap after the second pic. Antonio Chacón and Fernando Peréz deserve great credit for producing a sparkling suerte de banderillas with such an unpromising animal. The bull stumbled again as the faena, started with encouraging flaps, and rose, largely under Marín’s carful treatment. There were a couple of series of elevating derechazos, complete, round and templados, before this unhelpful character led Marín to work for the sake of working. It became heartless and soulless. A session of left-handed arrimón was of little help and the bull seemed to collapse with relief from a quick media estocada. All anyone needs at the end of an unentertaining corrida is for the last bull to be sent to the knacker’s yard as unfit for play. It was mighty keen to get out and it merely took a wave of Florito’s beautifully tailored jaqueta corta to get it into the toril, the handsome cabestros looking on in apparent amazement. The replacement was a José Vázquez. Ginés Marín left his bull out of suerte before the horse and his dad rode his animal over the lines - a demonstration of bad, and uncaring, work in the second tercio by two people who should have behaved better. The sticks were placed as they were made, one by one, until one peón got a pair in the bull’s neck. Why Ginés thought this bull was fit for a dedication, he must know: it went to Curro Vázquez. The weakness of the bull was a handicap, but Ginés must be praised for trying to make a faena. He managed a gentle series of derechazos between his random flaps before the bull fell on its back. The ending was on an upward curve. Gradually the bull started, or was persuaded, to pay attention. There was a brief, but pleasing, spell of thoughtful naturales before a kill with a low sword.

28 May – There Is More Than One Way of Toreando a Novillo

I resolved early in my entry into the bull world never to try to become acquainted with toreros. How can you evaluate them properly if you are personally friendly towards them? It was not a difficult resolution to keep, but in circumstances beyond one’s control, one can’t politely avoid breaking it. We bumped into Talavante’s cuadrilla for tomorrow in Ventura de la Vega tonight and could hardly walk past them without an “enhorabuena” for David Adalid for his work today, the great sticks we have seen him place in recent years and to wish them luck for tomorrow. I met Lalo de María twice in 2022 and again in 2023. He is a tall, handsome, blonde, young man with an easy charm who speaks English as if it was his first language. He is not afraid to talk about toreo or about his taurine plans, and he has, in my opinion, improved his toreo each time I have seen him. The prospect of seeing him again was inviting.  That we were disappointed was not entirely his fault. Once again, the animals presented, this time by Guadaira and Torrehandilla, were short of strength and aggression. Overall, they were weak mansos. Lalo was elegant enough in his opening flaps and placed the novillo well for the nondescript pics. The bull fell in banderillas. Lalo’s linear derechazos de rodillas were a forecast of what was to come: a clean and well-structured faena of right and left-handed pases, many of them closely templados and sometimes linked into series - frequently ended with long chest pases. The problem with this kind of toreo is that it makes one feel that one is watching toreo de salón, so little intensity is transmitted to the audience. Even when de María delivered an effective estocada, the audience stuck to their mobile phoning in silence. Things were not much different with the fourth (bis) – the chosen bull was taken out as an invalid – a jabonero sucio that flattered to deceive with its solid appearance. It accepted two pics and five banderillas and walked through a faena of pases despegados as elegant as they were ineffective. So, we had a weak and docile novillo faced with a man with all the technique necessary to create a faena, but who seemed interested only in keeping the animal as far from him as possible. Tired but not toreado, the novillo died after a pinchazo and an estocada. On this showing, Lalo de María is not on an upward trajectory after all. And the kind of routine and distant toreo he produced may be evidence that he never was.

Pepe Luis Cirugeda’s 512-kilo Guadaira entered like a rocket and charged through some templadas and appropriate delantales with a will. This was steady and mature work, and Cirugeda further showed his skill in some verónicas walking the bull to the sitio. The bull was out of the first pic as soon as possible and fell in front of the horse. So much, then, for strength. I looked up and the removal firm of Florito and Co. were hard at work.

The second (bis), a 498-kilo colorado substitute from Torrehandilla, focussed strongly on the lure as it entered and Cirugeda placed it en sitio for each of two pics.  He had contributed to a satisfying suerte de varas.  Chicharro muffed an otherwise well-constructed and delivered series of gaoneras with an enganche, but he was clearly trying. He rubbed out his error with a pragmatic but beautiful recorte, and an excellent beginning was crowned by a superb suerte de banderillas. Cirugeda’s faena was a strange mixture of the pained and the positive. For some stretches, the novillero seemed insecure. Some of his derechazos were scrappy and unconnected and he threw the novillo out at the end of some of his naturales. His tentative single pases took advantage of the novillo’s readiness to charge and his composure was precise. When he came to his kill with a miss, a pinchazo and an estocada, he had done enough to suggest that there is a considerable matador here but, in this case, he had not done enough to fully showcase the bull. For his next one, he strode towards los toriles and dropped down well inside the inner ring. I thought he was too far out, but the bull came slowly at first, saw him and he executed a pleasing larga, The one he did in the tablas was even more complete. The bull just complied in varas, accepting a couple of brief pics. The two and a half verónicas of Chicharro’s quite were confident, templados and complete. David Adalid and Rafi Goria took salutes for their work in banderillas. It had been a superb opening, and all looked well. But the bull was already exhausted and refused to move any more, as if to say, “Here I Stand!” Even as he crossed to exactly the correct cite position, the bull merely looked at him. That killing a bull that is not toreado and can hardly move is difficult was proven by the efforts of Cirugeda: a missed estocada, five pinchazos and an estocada. We must wait to see how he will develop.

Alejandro Chicharro has been roaming the plazas of Madrid province – he is from Miraflores de la Serra – for some time, reaping ears and winning competitions. On 1 May, he won a main gate here in Las Ventas, and, considering the support he had this afternoon, is a popular promise. His first novillo charged well in his smooth, slightly rushed, verónicas and went into a light pic swinging its head. Placed en sitio twice, it took a couple of light pics willingly. Chicharro created a quite of perfectly measured delantales. Juan Carlos Rey won saludos for his banderillas and the faena was a small miracle, built mainly on derechazos and naturales, the novillero citing de frente, sometimes from a considerable distance. Chicharro obviously knows his job and is very good at it. He was clearly enjoying himself and, the bull maintaining its strength, could have gone on for hours. He went on to the aviso, it arriving during some close and exciting manoletinas. After a kill with a pinchazo and an estocada, there was a considerable petition for an ear, but the president gave that short shrift. Confident as ever, Chicharro welcomed his second, a 507-kilo Guadaira, with investigative flaps and lances. The novillo behaved well in varas: it charged in on its own for one and accepted another in its ribs. Between the varas, there was a legion of high lances, more ornate than functional, but no less goodlooking for that. This bull was not as noble as his first and tended to cut in from time to time and to be reluctant to obey the cites; Chicharro had to make it charge. His toreo had him crossing the line of charge, citing de frente, exposing his body to the bull and thinking on his feet as the lethal horns sought him. Courage, technique, cold blood were his weapons and, while he used them, he was able to craft beautiful series of gently templados naturales and derechazos. He gave us a faena with structure and meaning. Two pinchazos and two descabellos deprived him of an ear and maybe the main gate. It did not lose him the respect of his countrymen.

28 May – Morante de la Puebla and Juan Pedro Domecqs: the Perfect Combination?

The guidebooks to Madrid are quite good on what to look out for. Beware the pickpockets, the bag-snatchers and the rip-off taxi drivers. We met one of the latter when we tried to travel the short distance from the Royal Palace to the Plaza Santa Ana and were treated to a tour of Madrid longer than that covered by the big tourist bus. He did not realise that we had been travelling the streets and avenues of Madrid since before his grandfather had been born. A back seat discussion on libros de reclamación - “It’s OK, I have noted his name and number” - first stopped the meter, then found us on a direct route and ended up with him begging for the initial sum that had been on the meter when we entered his vehicle. Dealing with Morante is a different story. He is, after all, only contracted to have his bulls picced, banderillas placed in them and killed by the sword – if the weather does not get in the way. Is he ripping us off at all? Most of the toreo to his first bull was performed by Curro Javier, and a fine job he made of it. I expect Morante enjoyed standing there watching it as much as the good lidia lovers in the tendidos did. By the time the distracted, ground-pawing, apology for a bull arrived at the faena, Morante emerged to administer a few derechazos enganchados, three clean half derechazos, four doblones a pinchazo, an estocada, a pinchazo and a descabello. It only took him four minutes and forty-nine seconds. The bronca was substantial. We saw rather more of the man from Puebla in the fourth bull, another large, well-made Juan Pedro. His opening lances por alto were purposeful and raised a little hope. The bull took two long pics as if they were flea bites and charged in for a third touch. Then the air started to seep out of the balloon. Though the bull charged willingly enough, every pair of sticks was placed a toro pasado in an unexpectedly poorly effected suerte. Morante did give us more pases with this bull, but too many of them lacked commitment and many were enganchados. It was scrappy work ended too early with a media estocada vertical from a curved entry.

Talavante is on great form and with his first this afternoon, he was obviously keen to demonstrate the fact. He opened his work with four verónicas, three chicuelinas, and four media verónicas before being disarmed by a closely passing horn. The last incident was evidence of just how close Talavante had been passing the bull. The animal charged well for a light pic and went head-waving into the second. The quite of verónicas by Aguado was short, but it was perfect, a pure gem of cape work. Two pairs of stick were placed muy a toro pasado, one of them by Javier Ambel, and it was not until the third pair that he placed a pair perfectly from the front. Our good wishes of last night had been of little avail. The faena started in a succession of complete right-hand circles delivered on the knees. Talavante was in complete control and the temple could be felt in the tendido. On foot, he performed a succession of trincheras, each one close, apparently disdainful and awfully entertaining. The naturales en redondo that followed were the more rounded as they developed. A further series was insecure, some enganchados, but he ended the faena cleanly enough with some beautifully adjusted derechazos. He killed with a metisaca, an estocada en los agujas and a descabello. For me, Talavante frequently evokes the Baroque: the imaginative detail, the unexpected, the spontaneous, the sheer flair of his toreo, the long flowing line, gives it a rare excitement, and, if one watches his body language closely, a great deal of fun. When it came to his second bull today, who on earth would want to meet a 672-kilo Juan Pedro Domecq (hardly, “the same old”)? This wandered out of every lance at the beginning, but it did go in for the pics and took the first with a will. It pushed hard as the pic entered in the second encounter, but it lost its enthusiasm quickly. The quite of verónicas was clean, continuous and rhythmical. The banderillas this time were much more professionally done. This (many would have called it an ill-bred hulk) huge bull had a left horn as sweet as honey, a charge honest enough to allow the creation of art and strength to sustain a faena. Most of Talavante’s work with it was orthodox: series of naturales en redondo, all perfectly structured; all built into a logical sequence; and the whole seasoned with molinetes that were epic. He killed with an estocada desprendida and the bull fell quickly. Why the president did not give him two ears is his affair. He must maintain the integrity of Plaza I, the cathedral of bullfighting, one-third filled with a creche of screaming uneducated toddlers.

Pablo Aguado started to his first with a fine series of verónicas. And Aguado’s verónicas are fine indeed. But he lost the lure at the end, then lost the bull and had to watch the animal career to the horse which it knocked over: exciting, but hardly toreo. The bull skidded out of its pic, Morante rose like Lazarus from the tomb and performed a series of angelic veronicas. They did not win him absolution, but they were nice to see. Aguado’s reply of four chicuelinas and a media were further jewels of toreo. The bull behaved cooperatively in the banderillas and there was a brief session of artistic toreo from Aguado before the bull showed that it had done enough. Aguado opened with molinetes and trincherazos, not common these days, but pleasing to watch. His subsequent derechazos were insecure. One long and complete series of derechazos and a few single pases, all with that Aguado temple and flair, and the bull was off on a wander towards the toriles. And there it remained while Aguado delivered a pinchazo drifting outwards, another entering directly, and an estocada, before a litany of descabellos which brought an ending of deep silence. The final bull of the afternoon was welcomed with six perfectly structured and executed Aguado verónicas ended with beautiful media verónicas. The bull hit the horse like a cruise missile and pushed it 15 yards along the sand. For the second pic, it charged from los medios to take light punishment, and finally took another light pic from a long charge. For whatever reason, after a nondescript suerte de banderillas, it refused to move any more. Poor Aguado, a torero of obvious talent but without the material to exercise it, was doomed to squeezing single pases from a tombstone. He sensibly gave up quickly, performed una faena de aliño and delivered two pinchazos and a descabello.

We had seen what was billed as una cartelazo; the plaza was full to overflowing; the empresarios will be laughing all the way to the bank; Morante had reverted to type, as had the bulls he loves so much; Talavante is the man of the hour; and Paco Aguado must live to fight another day.

29 May – The Juan Pedros are not the Only Mansos in el Campo Bravo

The Lozano bulls this afternoon may have been mansos perdidos, but they sure looked good: well-presented between 520 and 597 kilos (desiguales), they were all but one in shades of red and most carried a few of the Núñez accidentals – girón, bragado, chorreado, ojo de perdiz. And they all looked very much in the type of the núñez bull in conformation and horn type. That was the best of them.

Victor Hernández was another of these Madrid novilleros who roam the competitions and work their way to the top. Today he was to confirm the alternativa taken in Alcalá de Henares last September. I have seen quite a lot of him over the past couple of years and formed the impression that he is a well-trained, mature young man with all the skills to rise in the profession. The first bull crowded him in his opening verónicas, but he made the lances clean and templadas. The bull pushed hard in a first vara, its rear feet in the air, but fell in the quite of a saltilleras and a revolera. The chicuelinas that followed were structured, clean, close and rhythmic. Why the president decided to have it removed was way above my pay grade – but so are most of the decisions made in that palco this week. The replacement was a bull from Juan Manuel Criado and Hernández proceeded to give it the same respectful treatment he had given the original. This time he started with four advancing delantales that were flat, smooth and templados. This bull was as soft in the feet as had been the first, but it stayed in. It went strongly to the pic and threw the horse over. and it continued pushing hard in its second pic. That this bull had better legs than I had thought at the beginning was proven in a great pair of sticks by Jarocho and its charges over 30 yards for Hernández’s estatuarios. The faena was, in my opinion, a fine example of the kind of toreo produced by a well-schooled young torero: full of confidence, technique and variety. But it lacked heart and soul. It was like the recipe for one of those gourmet dishes in the Sunday supplements: thousands of ingredients, various stages and a good deal of work. But Victor had left out the spices. That said, the faena had structure and there was plenty of it. Calm and secure, Hernández linked naturales and derechazos in flowing series and it was only towards the end that he had to resort to the single pase and trot pattern to keep things going. He missed with his first attempt at an estocada and then delivered an effective one before a descabello and applause. It had not been a triumphal confirmation. But nor was that of Curro Romero, rained off halfway in 1959, or that of El Cordobés, gored by a Benítez Cubero in 1964, and they did alright. The sixth bull was allowed to run freely all over the ring after its entry. Well placed before the horse, it took one pic working hard and another cabezeando. The banderillas were poorly done. Undaunted, Hernández started with his estatuarios once more; they were going very well until he lost the bull. Soon, he was merely delivering scrappy pases interposed with disarmings. Finally, he killed with an estocada and was saluted.

Daniel Luque was senior matador and director de la lidia. He drew a 520-kilo El Cortijillo in second place. It took ages to get the bull to the pic, but when it did get there, it took one firm and one light pic. The bull went well for precisely placed banderillas from Jesús Arruga, who seems to be losing his mastery as he ages, and Juan Contreras. The early pases in the faena were calmly done, nicely structured and completed in series. Had the bull had more fortitude, the faena may have developed well. But it soon ran out of power and Luque resorted, first, to single pases that were nice looking but despegados, and finally, because that was what the bull could take and the crowd would like, his seemingly interminable arrimón. He killed with an estocada corta and got just what he deserved, a sympathetic salute. At least Luque’s final bull of San Isidro 2024 was a beautiful animal. But it tended to weakness. It was so distracted that it went freely from a pic by the picador de turno to take two from the guardian of the gate. The director of the lidia and his assistants were nonplussed. Iván García placed two great pairs of banderillas as he so often does: a careful cite, a precise cuarteo and the sticks placed from de frente right between the horns. The bull soon lost steam, so Luque was doomed to making the best of a poor job. His linked derechazos at the beginning lacked flow and his casual, heartless, naturales were the work of a man who realised he was wasting his time. “Sin toro, no hay torero!” There was a metisaca off a curve and an estocada trasera. This time his reward was silence.

The third bull was one of those beautifully coloured nùñez bulls: colorado, ojo de perdiz, the huge white girón area running up its sides from its belly. It was faced by David Galván, as a reward, one presumes for his work last Wednesday. Manzanares could not come because he had been stricken with viral pneumonia. The bull was erratic as it entered, so the right-handed welcome was effected with no great enthusiasm on either side. There was some evidence that the bull had weak legs, but it went well to the pic once before it, horse and picador made a mockery of the suerte de varas on the second entry. We were elevated at last by a wonderful pair of sticks by Juan Carlos Rey. Galván opened his faena in a manner rarely seen: a flurry of linear derechazos spiced up with a trincherazo and a pase del desdén. It was sudden, refreshing and unexpected. The faena was much more orthodox, built as it was on series after series of long, rhythmic, flawless naturales and derechazos. This was an excellent passage, but the faena improved when Galván returned to his more ornate pases. Series were ended with pases de desdén, trincherillas and trincherazos, and, after some huge doblones, an epically long chest pase. Sure, this was a great toro bravo that charged indefatigably with its head down, but it was Galván who made it a star. He killed with an estocada and, despite the petition, had to settle with a vuelta. The fifth bull was another huge and beautiful núñez. But it had weak legs and little backbone for the fight. It ran out of its first pic and made a half-hearted shape at taking a second. That Juan Rojas and David Pacheco managed to make a vivid suerte de banderillas was a miracle. Despite his efforts to make this recalcitrant coward move, David Galván was bound to fail; he was not toreando a toro bravo at all. He crossed to the opposite horn; he dragged single half pases after long sessions of encouragement; he proved why he was failing. In the end, he placed a pinchazo and an estocada drifting out of the manoeuvre. The salute was a kind of thank you for the good stuff he had done earlier.

31 May – Some Brave Bulls at Last

I remember once, way back in our camping days, stopping for a picnic at the edge of a field in Andalucía. On the other side of the fence grazed some bulls wearing the crowned D on their flanks. They belonged to Pablo Martin Berrocal then, a taurine empresario of some renown.  As we boarded the bus to the plaza today, our Breton travelling companion of many years assured us that we were in for a treat, “Santi’ Domecq is a breeder of great brave bulls”. When I reminded him that the trucks had been dancing their way between Jerez and Madrid all night in the search for six bulls that were suitable for Madrid, he shrugged and said, “That was just the vets.” It is to be presumed that the five they ended up with met with veterinarian approval. A Luis Algarra filled the empty space. To read the family tree of the Santiago bulls is to risk becoming cross-eyed, so complex it is. Essentially, they are a Domecq, Torrestrella, Núñez mixture.

Uceda Leal has been a matador de toros since 1996 and throughout his 28 years of alternativa he has proved himself to be a classical matador of sterling reliability. To watch him torear is like being taught fly casting by a wise old uncle. There is only one way of doing it – the right way, according to the rules, los cánones, if you like. That said, he does not always get things right. He welcomed his first, a bull that oozed bravery throughout, with verónicas that were templadas and complete, but just a little fast to convey security. The bull took a couple of pics, pushing hard, and Talavante made his quite: Two fast, close, chicuelinas and two largas, a declaration of intent, perhaps. The banderilleros gave a fine demonstration of how to place the farpas a toro pasado. Uceda Leal’s faena was done in an erect and composed style and comprised derechazos and naturales in series. They were smooth, templados, lovely to look at, but, for me, far too distant and linear to be convincing. Uceda Leal is one of the great killers of bulls. He killed this one with an estocada tendida. His second bull was the Luis Algarra, pure Juan Pedro Domecq, endowed with nobility and strength. Leal was much more composed with this bull and welcomed it with some flat and beautifully adjusted delantales. The bull pushed well in a firm pic and a much gentler one and co-operated in some very regular banderillas. The faena was a treat with lovely low derechazos and a desprecio to start. When Uceda Leal moves over the sand, he does so like a stately galleon breasting a forgiving ocean. The early part of the faena was uplifting with frontally cited derechazos carried through to precise endings. The bull lost its focus gradually, so Uceda Leal had to resort to single pases with adjustments. But before the end, he and the bull got together once more, and their co-ordination was transmitted to the audience. The buckle was closed neatly on the faena, and Uceda Leal killed with a pinchazo and a great estocada. He won an ovation for each of his performances. I was present when he took the alternativa way back in 1996 and have seen him dozens of times since. Such honesty, precision and preservation of a personal style is a joy to behold. I see no reason why he cannot continue demonstrating his clean, classical toreo for as long as he wishes.

Alejandro Talavante had a strange afternoon. His first bull moved well as he welcomed it with a cornucopia of verónicas and delantales, each one confidently executed and pleasing to look at. The bull fell as it left its first pic, having accepted it willingly enough. It merely complied in the second and, strangely, Álvaro Montes and Izquierdo only got one banderilla placed on their first entries. Álvaro redeemed himself with a well-placed second pair, but the bull was clearly weak. Talavante and it never reached any kind of harmony, the faena comprising single derechazos that never transmitted to the audience in any meaningful way. He ended the rather ragged affair with a directly entered for estocada. Talavante’s second was a bull of 600 kilos which put the lie to any notion that big bulls can’t charge. Its mobility burst forth as Talavante welcomed it with those smooth, totally controlled, verónicas. The bull charged into the horse and, with a flick of its horn, sent it and its rider flying to the ground. All rectified, it went in again for a second firm pic and cooperated in an epic suerte de banderillas that won Javier Ambel a salute. The opening naturales in the faena were sewn lightly to a trincherilla so smooth as to be almost imperceptible. The series was mirrored in a similar one with the right hand. It seemed that things were set for a triumph. Here we had a matador in control of his considerable abilities facing a rare toro bravo. Somehow, what he did with it, and he did an awesome number of things, did not capture the madrileños who had flocked to see him. Based on his left hand, there were series after series of linked pases, the bull sometimes corkscrewing round him first in one direction and then in the other. And, of course, we had the inevitable arrucina, the peppering of trench pases and at one point a pase de los flores. He ended with doblones as smooth as silk to align the bull, cooperative to the last, and killed with an estocada hasta la bola and two descabellos. The response from the audience was chilly. It was not clear what had gone wrong. The Madrid crowd can be tetchy; they approve toreo de verdad over the fun variety so often purveyed by Alejandro Talavante; maybe this man’s four afternoons in choice carteles in a feria run by his manager are a bit much for them to take. There is no explaining by this amateur critic of what happens in this madhouse cathedral. There was no ear, no vuelta for the bull and but a few handclaps for Talavante.

Borja Jiménez still basks in the after warmth of his triumph here last year. He welcomed his first with tentative verónicas. It manifested weakness as it merely leaned in its first encounter with the horse, but charged positively to take a second. The bright patch in all of this was a quite of elegant delantales by Uceda Leal. Each one of the three pairs of banderillas was placed a toro pasado. The faena opened with long and controlling doblones which segued into a series of derechazos de rodillas as thrilling as they were complete. The lad was desperate to succeed, the bull was in league with him, and the derechazos and naturales the work of a master torero. Things reached a stage where his work was so quick and close that it could have been dubbed histrionic. But the people approved it all and the matador was certainly in control. He ended with some calm left-handed pases and a pase de desprecio that said, “There you are, then”. It had been clever and exciting toreo. Borja Jiménez spoiled it a bit for me by drifting off as he delivered the first estocada. He was still awarded an ear. The sixth bull was distracted, and Jimenez had to work hard to capture it. Once fixed, it took two pics bravely and passed through a nondescript second suerte to a faena started with feet-together derechazos linked to a smooth chest pass. From then, the work went along a reverse parabola. The high notes of the commencement gave way to single derechazos ceding paces, routine workmanlike stuff, and then rose as the faena became a struggle between man and bull. The animal had an increasingly dangerous right horn, and it was absorbing to watch how it tried to catch the matador while he found, always successfully, but often dangerously, ways of avoiding it while still toreando. Borja had to jump now and then, but he was not about to surrender. He gradually prepared the bull for the kill, placed an estocada and won deserved handclaps. He has the ground laid for his meeting with the Victoriano del Ríos, Emilio de Justo and Roca Rey next Friday.

1 June – Good Aficionados Can (and Probably Should) Change Their Minds Sometimes

Early in this part of the blog, I was hard on Diego Ventura, pontificating that he, “is not God (nor the Ángel Gabriel) after all”. I take that back. Yesterday, he beat his record of nine Puerta Grandes in Madrid in an epic afternoon of rejoneo, and I am inclined to give him every title, earthly or heavenly, that is available. But to our tale.

The afternoon was opened by the Portuguese Rui Fernandes. He has been horsing about the bullrings of the Peninsula for a quarter of a century now, and, in my view, has developed very little. He is ample proof that a feather-decorated parade horse; a fancy suit, a three-cornered feathery hat and a five-foot jump into the air whenever he has a mild triumph does not a champion rejoneador make. He went off my Christmas list one afternoon in Seville about 10 years ago when he had a beautiful tordo horse, its sides raked by red spur marks, killed by a bull with sawn-off horns. Of course, he places rejones and banderillas, but he often needs more than one attempt and, when I have seen him, he has shown little knowledge of the bulls, terrains, or the creation of drama or tension. How to kill seems to be a closed book to him. His first Los Espartales bull today did not help him much. Something of an athlete, it jumped the barrera once and tried to do so several times more. Such things please the Saturday crowd here immensely, but do little for bull or horseman.

Sergio Galán has a different story to tell. He nears the quarter of a century mark as a rejoneador de alternativa and, today, he had a good afternoon. Calm, considered and with a methodical approach to his craft which sometimes raises it to an art, he evaluates his bulls well. His first today was erratic and tended to hook. Moreover, it tended to take up querencias. Galán used this to his benefit by creating spectacular manoeuvres as he drew the animal where he wanted it to go. He killed with a rejón de muerte of fulminant effect and cut a well-deserved ear. He might have done the same with his second bull, a murube of little commitment or character. He placed his weapons accurately, manoeuvred bull and horse sensibly, and had the bull toreado when it came to the kill. His pinchazo before the full rejón deprived him of that second ear.

When Diego Ventura is on full song, he gives his all. So, there is a huge amount of horsemanship carried out nowhere near the bull. It is a demonstration of how well-trained his horses are and how well he can ride them. Virtuous that may be, but it is what happens between man and bull that is important, the rejoneo. As mentioned before, I consider the biting of the bull by the horse to be pure circus that has nothing to do with rejoneo. He loses points from me for these things, but they are a very small proportion of what he does with rejón and banderillas and few seem to share my sensibilities on the matter. His work with the first was full of good things, but he killed with three pinchazos before he placed a rejoneo de muerte and had to use the descabello to finish the bull off. With the second, he repeated all his magic manoeuvres without flaw and killed with a rejonazo. In particular, he used the querencias to keep the bull focussed and to enable him to place banderillas with phenomenal skill and accuracy. And we had demonstrations of templados, hermosinos, passages round the ring, the bull fixed on the horse’s flank or tail, direction reversed flawlessly when required; the banderillas with two hands with dramatic preparation and spectacular placement. And the rejón of immediate effect. I do not think I have ever waved my pañuelo for a rejoneador since Ventura cut the ear here. I waved it today.