Santander, July 29: A great faena doesn’t necessarily mean a great bull

Miguel Ángel Perera has been a favourite torero at Santander for many years and came to the closing corrida of the city’s 2022 feria determined to uphold his reputation there.

He dedicated his first of today’s beautiful-looking string of La Quinta bulls to the plaza after some varied capework, including a tafallera in which he wound the bull round him in a complete circle. However, the faena, begun with several passes with the matador standing on the same spot, didn’t quite come together, the good muletazos also being accompanied by several pases enganchados. But the estocada alone was worth the ear that was subsequently awarded.

His second laquinta, ‘Hurón’, was met with half-kneeling, then kneeling, capotazos, Perera standing to conclude the initial capework with verónicas. The bull sent the picador to the ground on its sole entry to the horse, and so was very lightly picced. Perera’s quite of tafalleras this time included gaoneras too. The second tercio was a delight, Javier Ambel and Curro Javier excelling at their respective tasks, and then we had another dedication to the tendidos. The performance that followed was absolutely phenomenal. It was begun with his trademark pase cambio de espalda, taking the bull from the edge of the ring to its centre, followed by several more passes on the same spot. Then, initially citing from a distance, Miguel Ángel settled into series of long derechazos and naturales, turning the bull, before going on to produce passes that involved (to quote from the local paper) “unimaginable improvisations that, in each series, drew the most profound olés - long muletazos, performed extremely slowly and cited from far away”. With the cloth kept low, Perera’s classic ojedismo seemed to be combined with a personal take on the toreo of El Juli.

So far, so very good (I have seen many superb performances from Perera over the years, but this ranked as the best), but, as Perera prepared to kill ‘Hurón’, so a murmur and movement began in the crowd for an indulto. Sensing this, and doubtless wanting the publicity an indulto would give him in what has been a difficult season for the extremeño (with some commentators calling on him to retire), Perera began looking up at the president’s box for guidance and, whatever response he received, conducting further passes before repeating the citing process for the estocada and the questioning look upwards, the crowd growing noisier and more demanding - some saying he should proceed with the estocada: others not - each time. In the end, the president relented, showed the orange handkerchief, Perera performed a pretend kill with his right hand and ‘Hurón’ was returned to the corrales, the second indulto in Santander’s history.

The indulto was not merited. Although it had maintained a strong charge throughout its lidia, with just one entry to the picador, ‘Hurón’’s spirit en varas had not been tested, and the bull had shown a clear tendency to leave each muletazo on its own, only Perera’s ability to bring it back securing series. We’d also experienced a messy, unattractive end that most indultos seem to involve - the crowd baying for the bull’s life to be spared (or not), the matador seemingly no longer in control of events and indecisiveness from the president. What I think is needed in such circumstances is a further coloured handkerchief that the president can show early on to demand that the kill go ahead. In this way, there would be a clear, early decision on a bull’s fate from the authority before the crowd - many of whom cannot distinguish between the qualities of a faena and the qualities of the bull involved - gets too worked up.

Antonio Ferrera opened the cartel with some splendid capework to a beautiful laquinta that pushed strongly in the peto. However, the bull proved difficult in naturales, so the faena was conducted almost entirely on the right hand, the derechazos and pases de pecho curving the animal around the torero. Antonio came away from the first pinchazo with a cut to an eyebrow, apparently caused by contact with the estoque and treated with a few stitches, before delivering another pinchazo and an estocada, a potential ear lost.

With his other La Quinta bull distracted and wanting las tablas, Ferrera did an excellent job in the faena to finally get it kept in tandas, the passes turning the animal. Twice Antonio tried to execute his singular estocada walking in towards the bull, and twice it didn’t come off. Several attempts to descabellar followed and another potential ear had gone.

José Garrido was today’s third matador. He saw his capote destroyed in the opening capework to his first bull and was generally insecure, although he did manage to produce two fine series of naturales towards the faena’s end. Protracted killing followed. With his second bull, there was some varied capework, but Garrido’s toreo in the faena was very ordinary, and, again, various attempts with the estoque were needed. I have my doubts as to whether he will ever make it to the big time.