Santander, July 26: Los toros sin toros

This has been a strange feria. We have seen some decent things – the opening novillada, despite the rain; the day all three toreros – Ponce, Morante and Adrián – went out on shoulders; and Tomás Rufo’s performances. But we have not had one bull that caught the imagination, that showed real casta (and Santander is not alone in this; apparently, Mont de Marsan’s July feria, apart from the closing victorinos, was similarly affected). Any hopes that today’s final corrida with La Quinta bulls would buck the trend proved misplaced. Despite Sñr Conradi’s assurances in the morning newspaper, we had an odd assortment of santacolomas ranging from 457 to 592 kilos. The first looked the part, but was charging short in the faena from the word go; the second was weak and defensive; the third would not lower its head and walked through passes; the fourth had a strange physique, its head carried low; the fifth was noble but anovillado and lacking in character; and the sixth was whistled on entry for its junior appearance and had difficulty staying on its hooves. So we had another corrida where the toro bravo was the missing element, the bulls that did come into the ring failing to play their part in transmitting aggression, power and danger whilst the toreros performed with them.

On paper, this was an interesting mano a mano between longtime Santander favourite Miguel Ángel Perera and the sevillano Daniel Luque. The corrida got off to a shambolic start with a minute’s silence before the paseíllo in memory of Pepe Luis Vázquez Silva, whose death had been announced this morning. The toreros demanded a minute’s silence for the same purpose after the paseíllo had finished, so the fragile and (for those fortunate enought to see him good) unforgettable artista had two minutes’ silence to his name!

Both toreros showed what they could do, if only they had decent animals to work with. Miguel Ángel Perera came nearest to a triumph with the fifth bull, which he met with a larga cambiada de rodillas, some fine verónicas and a media verónica. The faena, dedicated to the public, was excellent, comprising mainly linked naturales, with circulares and then closing with bernadinas, in one of which the matador had to twist his body to avoid a cornada. All seemed set for the award of two ears until Perera collected the estoque, missed completely on his first entry, and achieved a shallow pinchazo on his second before finally placing the sword correctly. He took saludos while the bull was despatched to applause.

Although a triumph was impossible with the material to hand, Miguel Ángel did well on his first bull also in managing to get some linked series out of it, incorporating stretching naturales and curving chest passes, before finishing with manoletinas and a bajonazo. His second animal was the worst of his draw, the only highlight being a quite of legs-apart verónicas, the lowlight being another low sword.

Daniel Luque gave some fine verónicas to his opening La Quinta, letting one end of the cape fall in the remate. Juan Contreras placed some excellent banderillas and was fortunate to have only his trousers ripped when the bull chased and caught him as he jumped over the barrera. The faena was interesting: first, Daniel asked the band (which have been excellent all week and were a saving grace at yesterday’s corrida) to stop playing; then, as the animal had such a short charge, Daniel made greater play out of the citing than the actual passes! He killed with a respectable estocada and received an ovation, while the bull was dragged out to pitos. The sevillano’s best performance came on his next animal, to which he gave three media verónicas after teaching it to follow the capote and then dedicated the faena to the public, although it took some time for man and bull to fully engage with each other. But Luque managed to draw the animal out into linked series on both the left and right hands and finished with a series of close luquesinas. Unfortunately, a pinchazo and aviso prefaced the estocada, leaving Daniel to take saludos once again while the bull was taken out to a mix of whistles and applause. And that was really it for this half of the mano a mano, for Luque’s unprepossessing and unstable last bull could only manage to join in single passes in las tablas. Daniel killed it with an estocada in the centre of the ring and a minority of spectators petitioned for an ear to show something from the afternoon but had to go home like the rest of us, dissatisfied.