The 2024 edition of Sevilla’s Feria de Abril proved to be one of the best of recent years, with three matadors leaving through the Puerta del Príncipe and several others providing memories to savour.

The princes

Each of the three occasions on which a matador departed through the Puerta del Príncipe had its own particular circumstances. Miguel Ángel Perera, relegated to the series’ opening week rather than appearing in the second, when Sevilla’s feria is in full swing, cut three ears in a Maestranza festejo for the first time in his 20 years as a matador de toros. Andrés Roca Rey, cold-shouldered by the sevillanos during his ‘gesture’ appearance with victorinos, won them round with a convincing display in the feria’s penultimate corrida. And Daniel Luque, perhaps the cause of the Peruvian’s initial difficulties, was granted the main gate as Sevilla’s current favourite son.

Miguel Ángel Perera found himself heading an April 10 cartel with one of the best strings of bulls of the feria - the domecqs of El Parralejo. His first was a tricky animal, cutting in towards the matador, which led to a number of very close encounters, but Perera coped well with it to bring off linked pases con temple followed by arrimón and an excellent sword, winning an ear. Miguel Ángel began his second faena on his knees in the centre of the arena. This bull (generously awarded a vuelta en arrastre) had a decent charge and Perera made the most of it, taking the animal from a distance and using the momentum to link some fine passes before closing with bernadinas and another strong estocada. As the president’s second white handkerchief appeared, it was moving to see how much it meant to Perera, the tears flowing from the 40-year-old’s eyes. It’s a shame that, in many of the post-feria analyses, this triumph has been somewhat overlooked; Miguel Ángel, the independent maestro, faces another season of having to fight for contracts.

The other deserved departure through the Puerta del Príncipe was that of Andrés Roca Rey on April 20. He cut two ears from his first Victoriano del Río bull and one from his second: I would have waved my handkerchief the other way round. His first bull, somewhat weak, charged cleanly and con nobleza, permitting pases de rodillas cambiados por la espalda, series of derechazos and naturales and some fine chest passes. As is often the case, Andrés got over-confident citing close to the bull and got tossed as a result, albeit without injury. His second animal was a more impressive and challenging bull, humillando rarely, but the Peruvian dealt with it very well, standing his ground and bringing off passes and going over the horns for another excellent kill in which the torero got bumped. Today’s most popular torero had put things back in order after his under-appreciated afternoon with victorinos.

Daniel Luque was fortunate to leave through the Prince’s Gate on April 12; this was an example of when the crowd petitions for a third ear simply to see that happen - the fact that a fellow sevillano was involved was relevant too. The ear Daniel won off his first Núñez del Cuvillo bull, an animal he had to work hard with to produce a decent faena, was merited. A similar outcome from his second faena - good, but not memorable - would have been respectable, but the two ears the crowd insisted on being awarded were, to this onlooker at least, over the top (his ability to wrench a faena out of a manso from Domingo Hernández on April 15 was far more impressive). Furthermore, Daniel has since been awarded the prize for triunfador de la feria. Given the continuing stand-off between Roca Rey and Luque, it gives Ramón Valencia an intriguing task putting together the cartel for Sevilla’s next Easter Sunday corrida, a festejo which traditionally features the main players from the previous Feria de Abril and for which the obvious cartel would now be Morante de la Puebla, Luque and Roca Rey.

Memorable performances

Juan Ortega picked up the prizes for best faena once the feria had ended, but, to my mind, the top faena of the series came from Borja Jiménez on April 13. The magic occurred on the sevillano’s own first bull (he had had to torear and despatch the opening bull of the corrida after it had gored Manuel Escribano in his initial capework) - little was achieved with the capote, but Jiménez was able to bring off a superb faena to not just any bull, but a victorino. He produced series of slow, curving, linked, close but aesthetically pleasing muletazos in a stupendous performance. His afternoon with victorinos in Madrid last autumn was spoiled by shallow estocadas at the finish, and the same thing happened here to break the perfection; a cite from very far out led to another estocada tendida, which, although it eventually brought the bull to the ground, reduced the award to a single ear.

The feria’s other memorable performance came from Jesús Manuel El Cid in the La Quinta corrida on April 18. The string as a whole was disappointing, but Jesús drew a decent animal (albeit unworthy of the vuelta it was given en arrastre) to begin the corrida and made the most of it in the faena, standing calmly whilst using the muleta to bring the animal round and round him, both in derechazos and naturales. The estocada was crosswise and tendida and it was probably this aspect that determined the president’s decision to award only one ear when many in the crowd were petitioning for a second. Will El Cid have a busier temporada this year than in 2023? It remains to be seen, but he certainly merits one.

Sevilla’s other royal moments

As mentioned earlier, the faena of Juan Ortega to his second bull on April 15 was reckoned by many to be the best of the feria, something I would disagree with. Although it was good to see Juan do well on home soil, his passes slow and curving, I have seen better from him (see my earlier blog report of his afternoon in Valladolid on September 9 last year). Furthermore, his Domingo Hernández bull was weak-legged and had to be helped through its lidia.

The two ears won by David Miranda in the April 9 corrida, which saw an excellent string of Santiago Domecq bulls, were fully merited. He drew an animal with nobleza and a strong motor that should have been given a vuelta en arrastre. On his Sevilla debut, David began the faena with a bold combination of pases por alto, an extremely risky arrucina and a chest pass. Series of well-judged linked derechazos and naturales followed, the bull charging strongly and the crowd growing increasingly excited, some even calling for an indulto. David killed with a pinchazo, soon overlooked as it was followed by a determined estocada during which the matador received a horn blow to his stomach.

The attitude and performance of Manuel Escribano in the April 13 victorinada impressed enormously. After receiving a 10cm cornada in his right leg during capework following a portagayola greeting to his first bull, Manuel insisted on returning to face his second victorino before the afternoon ended. Now jacketless, he walked to the toriles again for another portagayola reception, waiting a terrifically long time for the bull to enter the plaza, caped the animal cleanly and then produced some respectable verónicas ahead of the tercio de varas. In the second tercio, Manuel came back out again to place two pairs of banderillas, then brought off some low and lengthy derechazos to a none-too-easy animal and stole some naturales before killing strongly. In these extraordinary circumstances, the two ears he was awarded were fully deserved.

Emilio de Justo had a good Feria de Abril, albeit short of a grand triumph. On April 16, he produced some superb naturales with a weak garcigrande and crowned the faena with an excellent estocada to win an ear. Two days later, he won an ear off each of his La Quinta bulls, dominating his first and robbing passes off the other, before killing both with brilliant estocadas. The extremeño merited the awards given for best estocada of the feria.

In between the Easter Sunday corrida and the opening of the Feria de Abril, Sevilla featured a Sunday corrida of Fermín Bohórquez bulls (more frequently seen in corridas de rejoneo) for three local toreros. The bulls performed pretty well, as did Juan Pedro García Calerito. The 24-year-old, who took the alternativa in La Maestranza in the Feria de San Miguel of 2022, made the most of his two strong animals and killed well to win an ear off each and leave the plaza on shoulders.

The capework of Pablo Aguado on April 11 deservedly won post-feria awards, although I could not for the life of me see how his performance with his second bull on April 20 merited an ear (perhaps, like the ear given to Esaú Fernández during the April 21 miurada - although standards for ear-giving are often lowered where miuras are concerned - it was another premio de localismo). José Garrido showed more variety than usual, and more determination than of late, to claim an ear on April 9. Paco Ureña managed a strong faena to a bull that kept looking at him on April 10. He killed well too, only to receive a minority petition. Morante de la Puebla performed well with his first bull on April 11, when it was strange that his artistry was not appreciated more by the public. Diego Urdiales and Alejandro Talavante each cut an ear from Núñez del Cuvillo bulls on April 12 and showed flashes of themselves at their best.

All in all, although the quality of the bulls sagged in the second week when the figuras were in town, this was a highly enjoyable feria full of riches. If the rest of the temporada continues in this vein, we are in for some treats.