The year’s top toreros (2023 Season Review Pt1)
Toreros of the year
In looking back at Europe’s 2023 temporada, it seems to me there were four toreros of the year, here presented in no particular order. But let me start by saying it’s time for me to eat humble pie for, having decried Sebastián Castella’s decision to return to the bullrings at the start of the temporada, I consider him to have been one of the toreros of the year by the season’s end. In my defence, the secret of the Frenchman’s success was that he came back a different and better torero compared to when he retired. Castella 2023 (3rd in the escalafón with 51 appearances and a tally of 63 ears) was a torero concerned primarily with achieving temple, a matador with a more classical approach than he’d ever shown previously.
His season began quietly at Valencia’s Las Fallas, then proceeded with little success (including a trophyless mano a mano at Arles at Easter) until he cut two ears and left Las Ventas through its puerta grande on 19 May, his first appearance of San Isidro. His next two afternoons in the feria resulted in an ear and a vuelta respectively. Further triumphs followed at Saint Sever (in a mano a mano with Emilio de Justo), Zamora, La Linea, Béziers, Dax, Saint Gilles (another dominant mano a mano, this time with Thomas Joubert), Linares, Colmenar Viejo, Santoña, Valladolid, Murcia, Baza, Salamanca and Hellín. Having conquered Madrid in the Spring, Autumn brought a three-ear triumph in Sevilla’s La Maestranza - the icing on the cake of a return that added greatly to the Frenchman’s reputation as a matador de toros and restored him to the premier rank.
When future historians look back on Europe’s 2023 temporada, it will probably be remembered as the year of El Juli’s despedida (or possibly the year of Morante’s tail in Sevilla). In El Juli’s case, when the season began, there was nothing to indicate the year would be different to any other in his quarter century as a matador de toros. His first triumph came at Castellón de la Plana in March, followed shortly after by a two-ear faena in Sevilla’s La Maestranza in the first of three April Feria appearances. Talavera and Aranjuez in May and Alicante in June brought exits on shoulders, while what would be his last corrida in Pamplona netted the madrileño three ears.
In the last week of July, Julián announced his intention to quit the bullrings at the season’s end. Was a matador’s ‘farewell tour’ (my feeling is that he will be bored out of his mind within two years and that he will make a return in the near future) ever conducted with such warm feelings from the spectators? From August, triumph followed triumph - Pontevedra, San Sebastián, Gijón (where El Juli faced six bulls to mark the plaza’s release from political prohibition), Guijuelo, Almagro, Cuenca, Palencia, Albacete, Nîmes and Salamanca. He cut an ear in Bilbao, performed well with victorinos in Valladolid, then finally achieved his first Puerta Grande exit from Las Ventas as a matador de toros before calling it a day by cutting an ear from his final bull in Sevilla. He finished sixth in the escalafón with 70 ears and two tails to his credit after 39 corridas.
Another torero of 2023, and the one who ended up heading the escalafón (for the first time since 2018), cutting 115 ears and four tails from 58 corridas, was Andrés Roca Rey. No longer can the Peruvian be guaranteed to fill a plaza, but the crowds still flocked to see the 26-year-old, a number of percances over the course of the season underlining his reputation as a torero unafraid to take risks and the matador who passes bulls the closest of all.
His European season began with a four-ear triumph at Illescas in March, a month that also saw salidas a hombros at Valencia, Castellón and Arnedo. He had a successful mano a mano with Sebastián Castella at Arles, winning four ears from bulls of La Quinta, before a triumph at Brihuega and departure through Sevilla’s Puerta del Príncipe on April 21, cutting a further two ears there a week later. Further successes followed at Jerez, Valladolid, Córdoba, Nîmes, Aranjuez, Toledo (where he was badly tossed when executing arrimón) and Granada before he finally cut an ear on his last of three San Isidro appearances, all marked by hostility from Tendido 7. June brought further triumphs at Istres, Algeciras and Badajoz; July strong performances at Teruel, Estepona, Pamplona (twice), La Linea (where a bull of Torrealta was indultado) and Santander, where he was fortunate to escape a nasty cogida with slight injuries, the bull briefly pinning him against the barrera. Concerns were expressed when he received another cogida on his return appearance at Huelva nine days later.
A fortnight’s recovery was needed after an 18cm cornada grave in his right leg at El Puerto de Santa María in early August, Andrés returning with triumphs at Málaga, Gijón and Almería. His two Bilbao appearances brought only a single ear, but he had a bull of Santiago Domecq indultado at Antequera and achieved further exits on shoulders at Tarazona de Aragón, Palencia, Bayonne, Murcia, Almódovar del Campo, Guadalajara, Albacete (where he received a further tossing), Nîmes and Pozoblanco before his season ended.
My final torero of the year is Fernando Adrián. The madrileño surprised the taurine world with two consecutive Puerta Grande triumphs at Las Ventas. He had come to San Isidro with two successful afternoons already under his belt at Valdetorres de Jarama and Anchuelo before cutting an ear from each of his Santiago Domecq bulls on May 31. This result was sufficient for him to be placed on the cartel for the Corrida de Beneficencia, from which he emerged the triunfador, winning two ears from a bull of Juan Pedro Domecq.
Astonishingly, some 10 weeks went by before Adrián donned a suit of lights again - at Cuenca, where he left the plaza on shoulders after cutting three ears. The following day, the Cuenca empresa, Maximino Pérez, opted to become Adrián’s manager, and he was able to secure a rash of mainly substitute appearances for his charge over the next month before the season ended. These nine afternoons - at Cuéllar, Palencia, Valladolid, San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Navalcarnero, Murcia, Guadalajara, Vieux Boucau and Las Rozas all brought departures a hombros. Each of his 2023 corridas had proved a triumph - Fernando had shown a structured concept to his faenas and a determination to do well that had not been so apparent until this year. Ending up 26th in the escalafón with a tally of 46 ears and four tails from his 15 afternoons, Fernando Adrián should realistically expect a far busier 2024.
Runners up
Daniel Luque, who has been showing year by year improvement in recent years, had another strong season and it was perhaps only his terrible cornada at El Puerto de Santa María in August that prevented his anointment as a figura del toreo by the season’s end, although he has had the honour of being selected as the winner of Radio Nacional España’s ‘Oreja de Oro’. He finished ninth in the escalafón, winning 56 ears and two tails from 32 corridas.
Daniel began the year strongly, cutting four ears and a tail from bulls of Albarreal at Écija on el Día de Andalucía, February 28. He left Castellón on shoulders and won an ear from a victorino at Valencia, then produced a magnificent two-ear faena at Sevilla on April 20. San Isidro passed with just a vuelta to his name and his next exit on shoulders wasn’t until Alicante in June, but then he produced strong performances at Burgos (four ears and a tail), Mont de Marsan, La Linea, Azpeitia, Pedro Muñoz and Pontevedra. After his awful goring at El Puerto, in which he was eviscerated, he made a supreme effort to appear at his manager’s bullring of Arles on September 9 and cut three ears to become triunfador de la tarde. The next day, he won two ears at Dax and on September 15 five ears at Nîmes in a mano a mano with Emilio de Justo. By the following day in Albacete, it was clear that he had over-extended himself and needed more injury recuperation, and he took the sensible decision to cancel appearances except for El Juli’s despedida at Sevilla on October 1. Hearteningly, that day he produced another superb faena in front of his compatriots, winning two ears.
Morante de la Puebla, plagued by an injury to his wrist, had a much-interrupted and inconsistent temporada, the highlight of which was his award of a tail at Sevilla on April 26, which alone merits this runner up position. He had earlier secured triumphs at Mérida and Guijuelo, but it was another month (at Nímes) before he cut two ears from a bull and his Madrid appearances were largely disappointing. His last strong afternoon was at Sanlúcar de Barrameda on June 11, when he won two ears from a bull of Toros de El Torero. On June 24, he injured his wrist in a tossing at Badajoz - an injury from which he never recovered (partly due to his wish to avoid an operation) and which caused the rest of his season to be an on-off affair, with a number of appearances cancelled. After his 100 corridas of 2022, he finished eighth in the 2023 escalafón with 38 corridas and a modest tally of 23 ears and his Sevilla tail.
