Performances from the most important feria in the world (Part III)

Jock Richardson

June 2 - Such Things as Dreams are Made Of - Not!

I do not dream of Pedraza de Yeltes bulls. But I think of them often. Big red toros bravos which give a poke in the eye to the Juan Pedro Domecq deniers and of which my experience has always been memorable: afternoons in Dax with them attacking the horses three times, drawing out of the picadors’ performances that won them vueltas al ruedo; winning trophies in Azpeitia for their bravery; poor old Fortes so perplexed by one that it was returned to los corrales. I did dream of blogging about them alongside the unimaginatively placed grey toros duros which will follow them later in the week. On the day, they were not dream toros bravos. They were mighty tough, and they created a great deal of drama. One does not expect Pedrazas to be faced by figuras. The trio who took them on today were up and coming joie de vivre youngsters still full of ambition and hope: Juan Leal from France, Francisco José Espada from Madrid and Isaac Fonseca from Morelia, Mexico.

When Juan Leal marched towards the gates of fear to await ‘Alambisco-G’ – a funny name that for a bull – and plunked himself down almost en los medios, I thought he was waiting too far out. But he wasn’t. The bull saw him, and he performed his larga cambiada perfectly. Then the bull wandered off and it took what seemed an age for Leal to catch it for verónicas templadas. There was nothing wrong with the toreo, but this was not the fierce and focussed toro I had been envisaging. It pawed the ground in front of the horse in its lethargic varas and only two of the four banderillas placed went in as a pair. The bull had no apparent vice other than its weakness, but Leal, who is normally deeply committed to his work, seemed lost with it. His opening with derechazos de rodillas was spectacular enough to suggest commitment. He slipped in front of the bull in some early pases and was nearly caught. He was soon off into series after series of derechazos, all with him positioned off to one side and many using the pico de la muleta He did complete a series in mid-faena, but overall, he was merely a diligent journeyman. He seemed desperate to please, though, and he threw in a session of arrimón with some luquesinas so lackadaisical that they were ugly. Having gone on for far too long, he threw himself over the horn for a prompt kill. It was a pleasing ending to a very ordinary performance. This was not the man I had seen eating Miuras in Bilbao.  

‘Cubillo’ was a four-year-old colorado of 540 kilos and fell to Francisco José Espada. It entered quickly and pursued the lures with persistence. Then it emerged from a series and somersaulted; it fell under the horse in its first vara and was rewarded with a green pañuelo. ‘Fantasmón’ was an old cinqueño from Chamaco but two months aways from its sell-by date. It was distracted on entry and it was nice to hear Espada encouraging it into action with his voice. The bull took a couple of pics with strength and commitment and, after some verónicas from Isaac Fonseca, it fell in the middle of banderillas that were difficult to place because of its reluctance to embark. One single derechazo started the faena before the bull fell and, thereafter in a state of exhaustion, it could cooperate in single pases only. I am ashamed to admit it, but I dropped my notebook! Sorry folks! What there was of the faena were hard won single pases uno por uno and the ending came in a pinchazo and an estocada.

‘Lirriquilli’ at 531 kilos was another aimless wanderer, but when its attention was captured, it responded to Fonseca’s impressive sweeping verónicas. The positive push against its first pic was impressive: the wildly head chopping motions in the second were surprising. Leal performed a smoothly adjusted quite of tafalleras to a stumbling bull. The omens were not particularly promising. And then; Juan Carlos Rey placed two excellent pairs and Tito a very good pair. Their behaviour mirrored that of many of the wonderful banderilleros who have performed in this San Isidro. They are serious in their preparation, meticulous in their approaches and precise in their placements. We live in an age of great banderilleros and lidiadores. Juan Carlos was given a salute.

Everything about the toreo of Fonseca reeks ambition and the desire to please. His slightly histrionic, fun-filled work may not please everyone; nobody could fault his commitment. His derechazos de rodillas, the bull responding to a long cite, were epic, and his calmly erect chest pase to end them stellar. The faena was built on derechazos and naturales in series. Usually, they were complete and flowing, though he lost control of the work at times by failing to rest the bull, a strong and noble charger now, for long enough breaks. Outstanding was the way he discovered the cite position, crossing when necessary and positively encouraging the bull to charge. The sprinkling of pases uno por uno did not seem to matter midst so much academic and serene toreo. Besides, he made sure to end with a couple of complete series, one with the addition of a flaring farol. Fonseca’s crowd-pleasing ostentatious toreo is fun to watch; this toreo puro does him much more credit. He killed with an estocada. None of this excellent performance would have happened without ‘Lirriquilli’, of course. It was a noble bull that demanded the observant and authoritative toreo Fonseca gave it.

The fourth bull, ‘Potrillo’, was a colorado of 560 kilos. For some reason, it preferred the reserve picador to the one de turno. It certainly engaged with Daniel López with enthusiasm and took a long pic. It gave Vicente Barrera a good push when it was eventually encouraged to la contraquerencia. Vicente Herrera won a salute for his banderillas. Leal started his faena on his knees and the series unfolded well till the bull tangled with his foot and gave him a tumble. He tidied things up with a beautiful single pase. This erratic and weak bull was not about to help in the creation of a great faena. Leal, however, did his best. Early naturales were well structured and complete until the bull caught the lure and chased him across the ring. The animal had lost all power to charge and was now stopping in half charge and raising its head. It was not Leal’s fault, but, in truth, he was giving pases for the sake of giving pases. When he had given what he thought was enough, he killed with a fine, directly entered, estocada and a descabello.

Espada drew ‘Burraco MG’, another name I wish I could decipher, this time a chestnut of 580 kilos. Its back legs were sliding across the sand as it entered. Espada left it within the lines. They claim that this is the most important bullring in the world. Yet matadors, picadors and subalterns make a mockery of the most basic reglamentos. The very same individuals would not dream of behaving this way in France. They pic close to tendido 7 after all and there are two and a half thousand spectators there telling them how to do things properly. Isaac did get a few handsome verónicas in. The peones must have judged this bull as being dangerous: they placed the sticks, when they did place them, from as far from the horns as they could. Espada started his faena with naturales, the bull hooking from side to side. No sooner had he started his second series than he was caught and thrown. And what a throw it was: his entire body was lifted high above that of the toro and he, like the rag doll in the Goya blanket tossing tapestry, flew through the air. He landed headfirst and Julio Robles flashed across the mind’s eye.  Completely inert, Espada was carried off by his team. Juan Leal stood in the burladero de matadores, then walked out to administer a set of confident doblones. What happened next was beyond me, but the man sitting next to me, a family man accompanied by young children, went berserk. Apparently, Leal was uneducated by the norms of Madrid and, as I understood it, should have killed the bull without more ado. Whether or not Leal got the message was not clear, but he went out, passed the bull with a few derechazos and killed it with a ¾ sword and an estocada. He will know what to do next time – in a few minutes.

The sixth bull, ‘Pensativo’, was a Torrestrella billed as negro, bragado, meano, axiblanco at 575 kilos and cinqueño. From where I was sitting it was as black as the Earl of Hell’s riding boots, apart from the tiny meano tuft underneath, and just as ugly. It had horns that would have stretched from Valdemoro to Pinto without equivocation and behaviour like that of the man who inspired the phrase: it wandered all over the arena. Fonseca caught its attention in some fast and florid verónicas and, after accepting two pics unimpressively, it made life difficult for the banderilleros Raul Ruiz and Tito. Fonseca walked to the fence by the infirmary and laid his montera in homenaje to Espada. He opened his faena with a full series of complete derechazos, amid which the passing bull bumped him slightly. As he was closing the opening with a chest pass, the bull caught him full on the back with its right horn. The impact was dreadful, the flight of the torero on the horn interminable and the reaction of everyone present, amazed and terrified. Lifted by his companions, the brave young Mexican was taken to join Francisco José Espada on the operating table. Leal knew what to do, right or wrong, and killed with two pinchazos and an estocada. A dream corrida had ended as a nightmare as Leal led all the peones out of the corrida.

June 3 – The First of Three Days of Albaserradas

I read somewhere that the empresa had been unimaginative by presenting three corridas of grey bulls on three successive days. His actions were one of the reasons for which I extended my San Isidro visit by four days. I have seen the Escolares referred to as, “The bad Victorinos”. It all depends on what is meant by “bad”. This lot may not have been “good” in the sense that they charged obediently for as long as the toreros wanted, but they were mighty interesting.  The whole corrida lasted for just over two hours.

Appropriately, the first handsome cárdeno was called ‘Madrileño’. It was faced by that most madrileño of matadors, Fernando Robleño - and El Fundi, another Madrid torero with close relations with the ganadería, was there in the burladero of the ganaderos. A handsome beast, it entered to much cheering from tendido 7, a coterie who are normally tango-clapping the bull before it leaves the toril. It stumbled on the front right foot soon after it entered the ring but proved to be a bull with a very quick turn and a seeking right horn. It had a dull performance in varas, leaning against a first light pic and wandering in to lean with a wildly chopping head in the second. It did charge the banderilleros in a suerte performed with neither grief nor glory.  The bull was manageable in the faena, showing at least a flicker of nobility. Robleño is an expert with bulls such as this: he finds the cite position accurately and his toreo is based on the cite de frente and the maintenance of the bull in the lure. He was cautious with this adversary, tending to use the pico and maintaining a discreet lateral distance from the bull. The problems Robleño faced were that the toro was only able to charge for short distances, lacked recorrido in the parlance, turned very quickly at the pase end, and both braked and hooked fiercely. Despite these handicaps, Robleño persisted in trying to perform full series with right and left hands and, to his credit, extracted every ounce of charge the bull would give him. The kill clouded the memory of a faena bravely created: a pinchazo delantera, an estocada atravesada and eight descabellos to the sound of two avisos.

‘Cortinero 2’ was 559 kilos of cárdeno oscuro, wonderfully armed and looking every inch an albaserrada. It also tended to brake, hook and raise its head dangerously. As it stood distractedly pawing and scraping the sand way out towards los medios, there may have been others like me who looked forward with a degree of dread to the future. Damián Castaño is in the habit of placing his bulls at a distance from which they may charge dramatically towards the horse. He did this for the escarbando ‘Cortinero 2’. When it did charge, it was with commitment and intent. Alberto Sandoval was thrown from his horse with a mere flick of the toro’s horn. Despite its ground pawing, the bull went for a second pic, willingly taken. And, after a little hesitation, it charged the horse a third time. Damián Castaño had, not for the first time, given his audience a rare treat. The cooperation of Alberto Sandoval in the event was priceless. The bull was a mixture of negative and positive qualities. It tended to raise the head at the pase ends, its charges shortened as the faena progressed – no wonder, after three pics. On the other hand, it put its head down, scraping the ground with its muzzle for the first half of the pases, and was mostly fixed on the lure. Castaño resolved the problems of this difficult mixture with persistence, skill and not a little beauty. His early derechazos were truly beautiful and as the shortening charges and head movements eased him towards the need for more distant pases and eventually pases uno por uno, he maintained his balance and his torería. He ended with some sparkling left-hand pases and went for the sword. As the encounter unfolded, ‘Cortinero 2’, almost obligingly, lowered its head to allow Castaño to glide into a kill with a slightly forward sword. So directly did he enter that the muzzle of the bull caught him, and he was propelled backwards, fortunately unhurt, with a monstrous horn on either side of his face.

I ended my last report on Damián Castaño and Gómez del Pilar, on their epic battle with the Dolores Aguirres in last year’s Corridas Generales, with the words, “the modest toreros who made it epic will not be rewarded with more palatable contracts”. Here we are nearly a year later, and they are toreando Escolares, a famously difficult herd. Gómez del Pilar drew ‘Burlador’, a 515 kilo cárdeno bragado meano – how wonderful these bulls look for their conformation, their trapío, their armament and their truth to the Albaserrada type. How sad it is that, from now on, they were desperately lacking in nobility and aggression. Fortunately, Gómez del Pilar is, like his fellows on the cartel, an expert at dealing with such bulls. This one hooked with both horns in the early stages and demonstrated weak legs in its first pic, taken from a positive charge. The short charge for the second light pic was unimpressive. It did charge Miguel Ángel de la Sierra well as he placed two fine pairs of sticks. How wonderful it is to see a bull that puts its head down in the charge in response to a matador who gets the cite position just right in front of the horns and carries the pases through with every element complete: cite, cargar la suerte, remate; parar, templar, mandar; ligar. Despite a growing tendency by the bull to brake and hook, Gómez del Pilar created a faena with both hands of series of textbook pases. He was clearly being mindful of the hooking, seeking, tendency of the bull, and no doubt the observant spectators felt strongly every time he was placed in jeopardy. There is little beauty in a faena such as this, but we got more than we could have reasonably expected. There was a good deal of intelligence and courage – and that is what bullfighting is all about. The dangers increased as the faena unfolded and the matador was wise to end before the onset of these unnecessary single pases we so often see. The third bull of the afternoon put its head down as it was led through a kill en corto y por derecho that fell a fraction low but killed promptly.

‘Diputado’ was the second biggest of the lote at 584 kilos, and it looked magnificent. Robleño indulged in very little cape work and the bull worked at one moderate pic and leaned erratically at a second. That good fairy Fernando Sánchez crops up here nearly every day. And every day, he rubs ointment on the scars left on our mental health by bulls without aggression and matadors without commitment. He and Raúl Ruiz placed miraculous pairs to this bull. It was a truly difficult customer with a phenomenal ability to brake and turn and a penchant for raising its head and hooking with either horn as it braked in half charge. Its vices were revealed as Robleño attempted to create a faena of single naturales and derechazos. He did exactly the right thing: he abbreviated and put us all out of misery with an estocada corta and an estocada.

Castaño led ‘Cancionero’ to los medios with wild abaniqueo, florid but of little obvious effect. The bull took the first pic high on the peto and the second after some cowardly behaviour in los tercios in a very brief encounter.  The bull stood still; the banderilleros tried to make it move. Its recalcitrance forced them to go through the Valley of the Shadow as they tried to make it charge. The bull was by no means neglected in the faena; Castaño got it moving with naturales, it hooking and searching as it went. We are familiar with those figura-selected docile bulls that cannot charge and must be nursed through faenas of the kind that have their matadors shrugging their shoulders as if to say, “Look what they have given me!” These lesaqueño recalcitrants are from a different mould. In addition to their weakness and mansismo, they have a streak of evil running through them that sets them trying to catch the body and incapacitate their adversary. And Damián Castaño is just the man for that. As the danger increased, he walked round the statue of a bull trying to make it move; he sucked left-handed pases from it like someone stealing petrol from a tank; he forced every inch of half charge it had left from it, And to do so, he got in front of the horns, extracted a pase now and then and once was chased by a suddenly enlivened bull. When all had been done to get toreo from it, Castaño entered directly to place a shallow and low estocada. To say he had done very well indeed is to understate his achievement grossly. He is a hero.

Gómez del Pilar met the most complicated Escolar of them all. ‘Salado’ weighed 597 kilos and had its fourth birthday only two months ago. This vastly overweight teenager had no clue as to how it was expected to behave. Gómez del Pilar ran it to los medios with some well-judged verónicas; it took a couple of light pics, stretching its neck forward to reach the horse in the second, and after one well-placed pair of banderillas out of three, charged for some single templados right-handed pases before colliding with its matador and chasing him across the ring. Gómez del Pilar judged things just right. This bull was not for the production of toreo, art or anything else. He made the wise choice and cited to kill. Even this most unhelpful of bulls put its head down and let him glide into a great estocada of the kind claimed in the textbooks.

Some would have called this a “bad” or “not very good” corrida. Hay para todos. For those who believe that there is no such thing as a “bad” bull, just bulls that are different, the conclusion might be different. Two lidiable bulls out of six is not an unusual number. Three heroic matadors willing to do all that they can to torear some far from easy bulls is a very unusual number. We will be no more able to forecast how the Escolares will perform next time we buy a ticket to see them. We may be sure that the three heroes of today will not be performing docile bulls any time soon and that they will continue to do what they do so well: torear toros duros with commitment and courage.

June 5 – Another Grey Day in Las Ventas

The first time I ever saw Paco Ureña, in Azpeitia soon after he had taken the alternativa, I remember him tripping away from me in a mincing style at the end of the corrida and me thinking, “This guy is fragile and will not get very far.” How wrong can one be?  Our blog master habitually gifts me a book on our first meeting of the year. This year it was a set of essays by taurine eminences on their favourite torero. Ureña gets a chapter in which he is said to epitomise honesty in toreo. The architect who wrote the essay describes him as, “…of fragile appearance tall, like a spike and as flexible as a bullrush.”  For the second year, he was appearing in a mano a mano in la Corrida de la Prensa, this time with Borja Jiménez facing bulls of Victorino Martín.

The first bull, ‘Matacanes’, was slow to enter and behaved erratically at first. Ureña took it to los medios with some positive abaniqueo and it went for three pics. Placed en sitio properly three times, the bull skidded into the first; leaned with one horn in the second and went cabezeando into the third; all were light. The banderilleros were discomfited and only Gómez Escorial managed to place a decent pair. All that had gone before indicated that this was a very complex animal. Ureña might have lined it up and killed it, but chose to try to create a faena. When it chased him across the ring after a couple of ragged derechazos, it was clear that his honesty was outranking his common-sense. His pases were mere flaps of the muleta and the bull’s penchant for chasing him repeatedly emerged: he was caught, without serious consequence, several times. He soon saw the light and started to kill. It took him two pinchazos, an estocada, and, by my count, 9 descabellos.

Borja Jiménez was faced with ‘Garañuelo’ in second place, a huge negro entrepelado at 590 kilos - like the rest of the lot, a magnificent example of the encaste. As he welcomed it with a string of verónicas in which he was in full control of the fierce and direct charges of the bull, the future looked bright. Perhaps that is what Borja Jiménez felt also; he has declared that he would be willing to torear the entire camada of Victorinos this year and another Ventas success would do his future no harm. The bull went to the horse twice, cabezeando the first time and merely leaning against a long pic. Its ferocity was in no doubt, however, and the banderilleros must have noticed the fact. It was no innocent either and it was not about to charge that which it could not catch. I have praised the banderilleros many times this fortnight. With ‘Garañuelo’, we saw the least successful suerte of the week; the sticks placed as they were made, one by one. Borja set off on a faena more of hope than expectation – maybe he did expect at first, but he would have to have had every taurine virtue to tame this superb Victorino. He tried three sets of staccato derechazos and discovered that he would make nothing of the head down rapid and unforecastable behaviours of the bull on that side. He had similar experiences on the left: some bold but fruitless pases at mid height before ‘Garañuelo’ was after him in a bull hunts man chase. The truth would appear to be that Borja Jiménez has not yet developed the skills necessary to dominate a truly demanding Victorino – this was nothing like the docile opponents he had in Castellón for example. That is no crime and retribution may be found. There must have been many who thought that a pinchazo, ¾ sword and 7 descabellos are an unforgiveable crime.

‘Japonés’ was another well-armed in-type albaserrada. Ureña sought the toreo it had within it with a succession of insecure flaps and led it to somewhere near the horse with similar flaps. If Ureña is about ethics and honesty in the fiesta, he should read los reglamentos which spell out clearly how the suerte de varas should be administered. This bull was nearly properly placed for the first entry but left to its own thing for the second. It skidded out of a first light pic and was scarcely picced in the second. The bull was demanding, no doubt, but it was neither particularly difficult nor wayward. Ureña might well have made a faena with it. He was trying to do so, but most of what he did was pile single pass upon single pass, many of them mere enganchados flaps with the muleta. Towards the end, there were brief series of properly formed and linked pases with each hand. They were at least a calming coda. He killed with an estocada and, for some reason, the president refused to accede to a borderline petition for an ear. It was an ear, so it was, but it would have been a mighty cheap one.

‘Corretón’ was 580 kilos worth of cárdeno, bragado, meano, victorino. It took a huge pic, charged for two pairs of banderillas and then refused to charge more. The faena unfolded as a multitude of pegged pases by Jiménez with each hand, few reaching an ending because the bull was halt and head-lifting. There was a good deal of it, but it was bereft of heart, emotion or toreo. Death came in an estocada desprendida and a descabello.

‘Matacanas’ looked very like ‘Corretón’ had done and, at 583 kilos, weighed much the same. The greeting of testing verónicas was clean, smooth and only enganchadas twice. It was a welcome relief. There was some confusion about whether the bull should take three pics: it is not common even in this Plaza 1. It did, having been placed en sitio three times, and took one rough pic at the rear of the peto, one nicely at the chest, and the third light and readily left. The faena was short, but Ureña worked hard to get something out of the bull. The doblones to start were low, sweeping, and kept the bull under control, and his first left-hand series was complete and cargado. Unfortunately, the bull tended to run out of the right-handed pases which made linking them difficult. It was a small thing of little beauty, Ureña had difficulty aligning the toro – who does not when his bull has not been properly toreado? He killed with a pinchazo off a curve.

Borja Jiménez had worked hard all afternoon and after ‘Garañuelo’ to little effect. At least he had the persistence of youth. ‘Misterioso’ slid out of the proving verónicas and was brutally picced by Espartaco. The bull charged the banderilleros and three pairs were placed.  At the beginning of the faena, it seemed that the bull had been crippled by the pics; it practically crawled into Borja’s initial derechazos. Soon, he was pegging pases one by one, often with enganches. The lad seemed to be passing the bull in a desperation based on the notion that what the public want is quantity rather than quality. A huge proportion of his audience was telling him the opposite. The tango claps of 7 and 8 were sending a clear message: kill it and go home. He heard it, eventually, and dispatched the bull with an estocada desprendida and a descabello.

June 6 – Even the Skies Were Grey Over Las Ventas for the Third Day of Grey Bulls

Which as we entered the plaza might not have been a bad thing. We have seen many momentous corridas in the rain here: the suspension of Curro Romero’s confirmation in 1958; the goring of El Cordobés by the Benítez Cubero during his confirmation in 1964; the two Frenchmen in the thunderstorm in their corrida in May 2007 – and we had seen triumphs in the wet elsewhere. No, we don’t mind a bit of rain, even when the chubasqueros must have been made by those who swindled us when supplying the protective clothing for Covid - they ripped as soon as they came out of the bag.

The bulls of Adolfo Martín were mighty weak also. The first, with the appropriate name ‘Pecador’, 568 kilos of archetypical Adolfo with its impressive armament and cárdeno, bragado meano colouring, was soon seeking the querencia of the boards and, not long after, making life uncomfortable for the bregadores. Antonio Ferrera had marched it out to los medios with purposeful, if a little ragged, verónicas and it had taken three forgettable pics. We might have been foxed by the three fine pairs placed by Miguelín Murillo and Victor Manuel Martínez. It is always difficult to figure out Antonio Ferrera and what will happen next. Why is he doing that? What will it achieve? He strode with this weakling out to los medios and proceeded to perform some feet-together linear derechazos. They looked quite handsome but seemed more appropriate to the end of a faena than its beginning. Little did we realise that this faena’s end was in its beginning. A few right-handed pases in the middle of which the bull fell; a few low pases to align and death by pinchazo and estocada before whistles for the bull. We had seen the flowing curves of Ferrera’s giant silken cape, we had seen him compose himself for his few pases and lances, and we had seen him behave like the sage he is by giving the bull una faena de aliño. In these strained times we must be thankful for small mercies.

There was nothing small in the mercy Manuel Escribano bestowed on us as he strode to the portagayola. He got his larga in, but ‘Baratillo’ was back on him like lightning. It was distracted and moved its head wildly. Still, it accepted a couple of moderate pics and was strong and willing enough for Escribano to give us one of his great suertes de banderillas. Each pair was placed al cuarteo, but they were varied in the directions taken, one por afuero and two al dentro; his precision was beyond praise. ‘Baratillo’ charged for one string of pases, five derechazos one after the other without a trace of ligazón, and was exhausted. It lumbered through a few pases and Escribano tried to enliven it with rest periods. He soon realised that there was only one decent conclusion to this faena, went for the sword and killed with an estocada tendida, y baja y delantera.

It is not difficult to remember that morning on 22 August 2014 in Bilbao when José Garrido cut six ears in his encerrona with El Parralejo novillos; it was a lesson in youthful ambition, learned skills and a blossoming personal style. We have never seen him perform as well since and now he has descended into the dark pit of las corridas duras. Still, he treated us to some beautifully structured low opening lances to ‘Sombrerillo’, a 536-kilo cárdeno. It went cabezeando all along the horse’s flank in its first pic. A huge revolera, the blue silken cape sailing outward, from Ferrera poured some light into an ominous moment as the first drops of rain began to fall. The bull charged the banderilleros well enough for them to create a pleasing suerte but had slowed down greatly by the time Garrido started his faena. He tried some single derechazos which essentially failed and then some naturales with similar results. There was nothing for him to do but align and kill, which he did with a low estocada from a direct entry.

The Madrid public love the corrida so much that they run away as soon as the rain starts. In our tendido, rain should not matter to them. Most men wear shorts and t-shirts and most of the women have so sparse vestments that most of what they get wet is exposed skin. But who wants to see Ferrera through the rain curtain when retreat to the bar in the covered passageway is an option? We delantera denizens were doomed to watching Ferrera torear ‘Malagueño’ through gaps between fleeing people. As the work started, it seemed that it would be a very little thing: ‘Malagueño’ was not strong, and, though it did allow Ángel Otero and Victor Manuel Martínez to emerge and take a salute, it was not till Ferrera took up his muleta that its virtues fully emerged. They flowed in harmony with the downpour and Antonio Ferrera, with his years of experience, his commitment and his long-matured style, knew exactly what to do. He went to the left immediately and performed a series of naturales with the feet together, the kind of thing Manolo Vázquez used to do. Precisely appropriate to the bull, they seemed to encourage it to give of its nobility. ‘Malagueño’ was a handsome beast with a huge pair of horns: it put its head down in the pases, its muzzle browning as it ploughed through the wet sand and as it followed Ferrera’s lure. The series of naturales were according to los cánones, but, done by a man who was rejoicing in his mastery and looking for structure, they were also pure Ferrera in style. Though serious, as the faena developed with derechazos, first with the sword and then with it thrown away, it was intensely personal and the whole harmony of man and bull transmitted the matador’s enjoyment in what he was doing. Ferrera may be a little, or very, eccentric. With this bull he was pure toreo. Had he killed perfectly, he would have won the main gate. Well, he would have done had the president been sensible and had the dry people crowding the gradas and andanadas made enough noise. In the end, he killed with a pinchazo and a low sword. I wished that the legion of my now dead friends who had spent years decrying Antonio Ferrera as clown, tremendista, and would-be populist, and trying to persuade me to join their anti Ferrera coterie, had been there to see it.

The rain was beating down, the tendidos were populated by the last of the few, and Manuel Escribano strode to la portagayola to await ‘Aviador’. When it entered, a white bellied grey with horns stretching out to Doomsday, Escribano sent it flying over his shoulder with an immaculate larga cambiada. The bull attacked the horse with a will and Escribano took up the banderillas. The effects of the deluge were now evident on the sand, puddles appearing in the trough made by ‘Malagueño’’s corpse and dotted elsewhere. I remember the first time I saw Escribano, in 2002 in Villeneuve de Marsan six months after his debut with picadors. Of all the matadors whose full career I have been able to watch, he seems the least changed. His hair is flecked with grey now, but he is still a great athlete, and his smile would light up the first day of Noah’s flood, let alone a wet thunderstorm in Las Ventas. He took up the sticks just as he had that first day and with the maturity and panache of a man totally skilled in his craft, placed three pairs perfectly, this time one of them al violín. The bull remained strong and, though it tended to drift out at the end of the pases, Escribano found the correct cite distances and built a faena with a pase de espaldas as introduction, pure derechazos and naturales as heart and molinetes and chest pases as decoration. Only once did we feel how dangerous all of this was, when, in a left-hand series, he was caught and dramatically thrown. Escribano judged the time for the kill perfectly and placed an estocada trasera of prompt effect. Those who were available to make a petition did so. The president did not notice. The vuelta was compensation.

The sixth bull was the largest of the corrida. ‘Tostadito’ was a cárdeno claro; it was impressive and took the breath away for its length, its armament and its trapío. It weighed 602 kilos and was not as well adapted to toreo as had been its two predecessors. However, Garrido was in positive mood and his enjoyment of what he was doing was obvious also. His opening cape work was well composed and with the muleta, he built a faena with serenity, adjustment and in very good taste. His estocada was low; it did not prevent him from receiving a warm salute.

7 June – A Good Ending for Borja Jiménez

Today we had Domecq bulls from Victoriano del Río Cortés and Toros de Cortés, from the same ganadería as we had seen way back on 16 May. How would they do today with different toreros? I spoke to a man at lunchtime who ran over the cartel for me. Emilio de Justo was dismissed with a word, “boring”; Borja Jiménez was still an unknown quantity; and Roca Rey was “still the greatest artist of the 21st century in any genre of art”. ¡Hay para todos! I am afraid I travel more in hope than certainty, so can only hope that a torero will get the material that will enable him to perform as well as he is able.

‘Tordillo’ was a castaño of 533 kilos, had impressive trapío, was well armed and had been born in July 2019, which took it to one month from its sell-by date. De Justo fixed it with some nicely adjusted low verónicas and duly took it to the horse abaniqueando. The first pic was bravely taken and the second but a touch. The Jiménez chicuelinas were close, rhythmical and effective. The bull went well for the banderilleros also, despite the excess of capotazos needed in the brega. The opening to the faena was such as to raise the spirits of even the most easily bored: eight low, close, doblones with the bull following the lure like a lamb and ended with a pase por bajo that seemed to last an eternity. These doblones were all the bull was to give. It was hooking in the first series of derechazos and had slowed down dramatically. De Justo did manage a nicely varied series of derechazos,, a molinete and a chest pase in mid faena but was soon down to pegging single pases. He killed with an estocada and was rewarded with silence.

The fourth bull, ‘Bisonte’, weighed 555 kilos, was negro salpicado and was falling as de Justo welcomed it with some nicely constructed verónicas. It bored into the horse, its rear legs in the air, in its first pic, but fell under the horse in the second. That did not prevent Borja Jiménez from performing a quite of verónicas closed off with an exquisite recorte. The bull charged well to take three pairs of banderillas and the faena started with low derechazos of classical construction. Then the bull was spent. De Justo, as honest as the day is long, tried to peg naturales, but they were single sorrows. The man has an appealing erect style and perfect composure, and the passes were nice enough to look at, but they transmitted very little to the crowd and the bull was being tired rather than toreado. De Justo’s afternoon ended with an estocada baja. He had not been dealt a good hand.

Borja Jiménez had scarcely brought the house down 48 hours before. As he strode to la portagayola, he was the portrait of a man with a purpose. The negro salpicado 548-kilo four-year-old lingered a while, the wind raised the cape of Jiménez, and anything might have happened. His larga cambiada was successful and the delantales, chicuelinas and a revolera with which he brought the phase to a close were, seamlessly linked as they were, dramatic. After the second of the measured pics, Roca Rey kept the pressure high with some perfectly performed saltilleras. The faena was one of those that stops the clock and holds everyone either suspended in admiration or on their feet applauding. The principal ingredient was the bull ‘Dulce’, a bull of Juan Pedro Domecq ancestry that behaved as that dynasty has sought for nigh on a hundred years; is charted in Del toreo a la bravura and gives the two fingers to those who make a blanket denial of all juampedros. It charged with strength and nobility through a faena built by a man with manners, torería, knowledge, skill and style on the age-old basics of toreo: the cite en el frente from precisely the right distance, parar, templar, cargar, mandar, and the more modern one of ligar. My notes are brief because I was suspended, but the word “great” appears again and again, even though I am not easily convinced. The series with each hand were of around three or four linked passes, the body swung round on the exit leg and each pass sewn tightly to the next, toreo en redondo as perfect as Giotto’s circle. When decorated with a trincherilla, some ayudados por bajo or a perfect chest pass, the connection with the crowd tightened. When it came to an end, Jiménez entered directly and placed a fractionally tendida sword. ‘Dulce’ added to the drama by, like the bull in the Domecq book, taking a long time to give up its brave heart. The president refused to give the second ear and by tomorrow he will wish he had no ears himself because he will have been deafened by abuse from every quarter.

(Image from Plaza1)

The fifth bull, as if to hammer home the message that breeding perfect bulls is a difficult art, fell after each pic and was removed. The substitute, ‘Voladero’ from Torrealta, related to but not the same as the Victoriano del Ríos, was another godsend. For the third time of the afternoon, Borja Jiménez made the long trek to la portagayola, and for the third time he performed a successful larga cambiada de rodillas. That was spectacular: the advancing verónicas that followed were beautifully precise. Two light pics and an outstanding suerte de banderillas unfolded before a second brilliant faena. It started with low derechazos and only the bull standing on the lure marred the naturales that followed. Thereafter, Borja Jiménez created another classical work: complete, rounded, clean and intelligently formed. If there was ostentation in his work, it was in the brief flashes of trincherazos and chest passes. It was more cool, calm and collected than frivolous and flashy. He needed a pinchazo and an estocada to kill the bull and the president, like most of the public, forgave the defective kill and Borja Jiménez had won the main gate and consolidated the place at the top table of toreo that he had claimed here last October.

‘Soleares’ was 620 kilogrammes of negro salpicado bull. To write that it was soso may be to overpraise it. One thing it did do was charge the horse well for two pics, encountering the peto in the correct place, at the horse’s chest. The Roca Rey I have seen tends to favour toreo, if it can be called that, in which the bull runs past in straight lines. His gaoneras in the quite were frontal, dramatic and beautifully done. As the bull charged the banderillas, it seemed to have the power and willingness to charge; it cooperated in three well-placed pairs. Roca Rey started in familiar mode, with derechazos de rodillas. They were linear, rapid, apparently dangerous and made very little impression on the crowd. He managed two series of derechazos en redondo before he was doomed to single naturales with none of the elements that constitute authentic toreo. He placed an estocada from a curved path and the silence was deathly. Whether it was his behaviour leading to the three avisos on the 24th, the fact that he is making a habit of going beyond the moment of truth, or they just don’t like his kind of toreo here, is not clear, but, on this afternoon’s showing, he is not particularly popular here just now. The sixth bull, aptly, perhaps, called ‘Condor’, was a wandering, distracted, manso which, when cited, made strange metronomic movements of its head such as I have never seen before. It nearly toppled horse and rider in its first attack and went to the reserve for a second touch. The success of the suerte de banderillas had more to do with the men than the bull. Roca Rey did try to make something of this cowardly animal with a molinete as it was running along the boards, two sets of linear derechazos and some naturales from which he lost the bull’s attention. He made his best move of the afternoon when he killed with a highly effective sword thrust.  

There was only one king of matadors in the plaza today and that was Borja Jiménez. Had his companions had the same kind of bulls as he drew, there is not saying how things would have gone.