San Isidro, May 13: Ginés moves up a gear

Corridas mixtas with rejoneadores are peculiar affairs, particularly when the rejoneador has the first and fourth bulls of the event, rather than a single bull as a kind of prologue to the main proceedings.

Today’s corrida varied from the crowd-pleasing entertainment of bulls being fought from horseback and the serious stuff of engaging them on foot. For the country’s (indeed the world’s) premier bullring where, rightly, calls have been made not to fall into triunfalismo, it was somewhat ironic to see Diego Ventura circle the ring with an ear in his hand after a performance in which one banderilla had missed the bull altogether and he’d needed two attempts with the final rejón. His two Moura bulls contrasted each other - one that took little interest in the proceedings and another that charged and charged, enabling Diego to do several circuits of the ring with the bull’s horns kept just behind his horses.

Brionesa from Paco Ureña

The montalvos for Paco Ureña and Ginés Marín were impressive-looking animals, possibly carrying too much weight. The lidia to the first began promisingly, with pies juntos verónicas from Ureña, a dramatic tercio de varas, the bull lifting the horse twice, and then competition en quites between the two matadors, chicuelinas from Marín and gaoneras from Ureña. The faena began well, too, with pases por alto from the spot, but soon afterwards it became clear that the bull had insufficient strenght for linking. Paco brought off some good single passes before killing with a low sword, receiving palmas after a spectacularly long death by the bull, which eventually fell in the centre of the arena. This had, perhaps, been an instance of too much capework affecting the faena.

The next two montalvos gave little opportunity for success, Marín’s being virtually immobile after Marín padre’s piccing, and Ureña’s animal another where linked series were a pipedream.

But, after some reasonable capotazos, Marín sensed a triumph was on the cards with his last animal and dedicated it to the public. His Sevilla two-ear performance last month was the best I have ever seen from Marín, and his lidia today on this bull was of a similar ilk.

We were treated to a lovely varied sequence of passes as Ginés moved the bull away from las tablas, including a molinete, a cambio de mano and a long pase de pecho. Then, finally, we had linked series, both derechazos and naturales, the latter particularly notable. As the animal tired, Ginés focused on producing exquisite single passes, some mirando al público and including an arrucina, and then closed the lidia with a superb estocada that duly led to an ear.

[Apologies for the late posting of this report. I was struck down with a severe cold immediately after this corrida and have been in bed ever since. As a result, there will be no report of the May 14 José Escolar corrida, but it is hoped that normal service will be resumed from May 15. -TW]