A triumph of the spectacle
In these celebrity-infatuated days, and with an announcement a few minutes after the death of the first bull that its matador - due to torear all six bulls that afternoon - had been so injured he would not be taking any further part in the proceedings, one would not have been surprised to see the seats of Las Ventas gradually empty as disappointed madrileños opted to make their way home.
But bullfighting isn’t like that. There were five more carefully-selected bulls from a variety of ganaderías still to come into the ring. And two sobresaliente matadors available to fight and kill them, putting their own lives on the line in the process.
April 10 had begun so well. A deep blue sky, an excellent entrada, a strong-charging bull, ‘Romano’ of Pallarés, and Emilio de Justo (beautifully dressed in a black-and-silver-traje with white trimmings and a waistcoat of gold) dedicating to the heavens and determined to do well. The matador stood up to the bull’s furious advances with both capote and muleta, bringing off some great verónicas, naturales and derechazos, a couple of the latter superbly low and templados. As the animal showed signs of defeat, so the extremeño managed to engage it in sculpted single muletazos before collecting the killing sword. The entry was straight and honest, the estocada plunged into the hilt, but the bull’s charge had not been deflected; fortunately, its head was lowered, preventing a goring in Emilio’s abdomen, but its substantial armament upended the matador, who then landed on his head and neck, only for his skull to be heavily impacted once again as the pallarés hooked at its grounded opponent. With ‘Romano’ dead from that swordthrust, de Justo awarded its ear (some would have said two ears would have been more appropriate) and the matador being treated in the infirmary, there had doubtless been hopes that a patched-up matador would return for more excitement and success.
But it was not to be. With most of the 20,000 spectators opting to stay in their seats, responsibility for the rest of the afternoon now fell to the more veteran of the two sobresalientes, the 47-year-old Salamancan Álvaro de la Calle.
Sobresalientes are nowhere near as gifted as the toreros they sometimes have to replace, and de la Calle’s style is very different from de Justo’s - more sober, and, indeed, more careful. But de la Calle, beginning with his brindis of the second bull at the infirmary gate, went on to give an afternoon he can, in hindsight, be proud of, full of dignity with honest attempts to torear and kill each of the formidably-proportioned bulls that came his way.
And what animals they were! The only disappointment was an energy-less victorino; the palha was predictably challenging; while the remaining bulls would surely, in de Justo’s hands, have added further ears to his initial tally.
Duplicado
The highlight was ‘Duplicado’, the 556-kilo cárdeno salpicado of Victoriano del Río, the fourth bull to come out the chiqueros. Its qualities were apparent early on, and de la Calle and the cuadrilla whose turn it was to face it rose to the occasion. There was a brilliant tercio de varas, the bull charging in to the horse from a distance, Óscar Bernal piccing at his best, and competition en quites between de la Calle and the junior sobresaliente, Frenchman Jeremy Banti. Then came a wonderful tercio de banderillas, with superb brega from José Chacón and excellent banderillas from Andrés Revuelta and Jesús Arruga, de la Calle having to step forward at one point with a hand towel to quitar a ‘Duplicado’ in hot pursuit of one of the peones.
De la Calle performed well in the faena, bringing off linked series, even touches of mid-pass relaxation (as above), and killed with an estocada con temple. If ‘Duplicado’ had not needed two attempts with the descabello to finish things, the Salamancan may even have won a Madrid ear. As it was, he had to settle for a tour of the ring, the president correctly displaying a blue handkerchief to give ‘Duplicado’ a similar award.
Come the corrida’s final bull, de la Calle provided another nice touch by going out to meet it a portagayola. Another respectable faena ended in three attempts with the estocada. As the crowd finally dispersed into the Madrid night, the spectacle of the corrida de toros had triumphed - bullfighting is not just about the matador, nor even (although an important element) just about the bulls. It is the format itself that elevates, with men willing to resolve the challenges in front of them as best they can with the technique they’ve acquired and the dignity they possess. The regulations are by no means perfect (it would make more sense, for instance, in an encerrona for the two sobresalientes to perform mano a mano once the lead matador has been put out of action), but no one tonight could argue that events had left them short-changed.
Emilio de Justo, meanwhile, diagnosed with two broken vertebrae in his neck and a fractured skull, faces a long recovery and is unlikely to reappear until the summer at the earliest.