Forecasts after the Madrid and Albacete festivales

Arrucina from Marco Pérez

Aficionados beyond Spain have been fortunate in being able to watch Madrid’s and Albacete’s festivales in aid of those affected by the terrible Valencian floods earlier this year. Apart from being interesting events with some fine toreo, they have also provided pointers for the European temporada ahead of us.

The Vistalegre festival ended as a showcase for an exciting new talent - the novillera Olga Casado. With an excellent Garcigrande novillo, this young woman calmly set about constructing a lidia that proved that female toreros can reach the same depth and provide the same emotional charge with their toreo as their male counterparts. Cristina Sánchez struck me as a woman who communicated a joy at being able to torear on the same carteles and at a similar level to male matadors, but Casado’s performance had something more to it - perhaps the excitement of seeing a young woman determined to be the best torera ever and showing every indication she possesses the capability of achieving just that. And all this before her debut con picadores! That will now take place on March 9 at Olivenza. Another triumph there and she will be well placed to have a busy novillada season during 2025, particularly given the announcement that her career is now in the hands of the Las Ventas empresarios, Rafael García Garrido and Simón Casas.

Olga Casado leaving Vistalegre in triumph (image from touroeouro.com)

The Albacete festival provided a similar setting for 17-year-old Marco Pérez. His capabilities are already well-known amongst the afición, the youngster’s career carefully curated to date, but 2025 - with an encerrona in Madrid during San Isidro, followed by an alternativa de lujo at Nîmes - marks his introduction to the wider public, the step up to matador and more extensive competition. Fresh from Valladolid’s La Flecha festival the previous weekend, when, amongst figuras, he was the most successful participant after cutting two ears and a tail, Marco achieved a similar tally in similar circumstances at Albacete, showing strongly with capote, muleta and espada. Here, too, is a torero with personality - how often does one see a diestro cracking up with laughter at some joke or comment while awaiting his bull’s entrance? There was a markedly positive response towards him from the crowd (much as there had been from female spectators when Olga Casado stepped onto the sand at Vistalegre), and I was left with a similar feeling to the times of Jesulín de Ubrique - not with regard to Pérez’s toreo at all, but rather that here is a torero, a phenomenon, whom spectators will take to their hearts.

Molina at the Albacete festival (image from www.latierradeltoro.es)

Another relatively new torero impressed me at the Albacete festival - the triunfador of the city’s September feria, José Fernando Molina (see my earlier piece, ‘A great feria produces a surprise triunfador,’ for more information about this matador). After waiting throughout a lengthy merienda break before performing strongly with a difficult bull, only for his swordwork to cost him any trophy, Molina called out a novillo de regalo in the hope of re-establishing himself amongst the taurinos watching, the ring’s spectators and the large audience following proceedings on television. With a fine Domingo Hernández animal (albeit unworthy of the indulto it was later given), Molina produced some varied capework, including an extraordinary sequence of largas, followed by a somewhat patchy faena. But with the muleta on both his bulls, he showed enough quality (his temple, chest passes and toreo en redondo) to make clear that here is a young torero in the classical mould, who, given more contracts and experience, has the ability to become a regular participant in the leading ferias.

One upshot of the eruption of Casado, Pérez and young matadors like Molina on the scene will be further increased attendance by young people at bullfights - just the shot in the arm the corrida needs.

PS: On the same day as the Albacete festival, 17-year-old Julio Méndez debuted with picadors at Mérida. An alumno from Badajoz’s escuela taurina, Méndez headed the sin picadores escalafón last year, participating in 52 novilladas and cutting 84 ears. He was also declared triunfador in several prestigious competitions such as Vistalegre’s Kilómetro 0, Arnedo’s Zapato de Plata, the Dax novillada series, and El Hoyo de Pinares’ Piña de Oro. At Mérida, Julio won the maximum trophies - four ears and two tails - from his José Luis Pereda novillos. Here is another young torero to watch out for in the season ahead.

Julio Méndez