Another varied Feria de San Isidro ahead
There is little rest in the mundillo these days. Almost as soon as one European temporada ends, its successor is being planned. Last year, the first full set of ‘unofficial’ San Isidro carteles was published in January. This time around, all the negotiations with matadors’ apoderados were completed and all the corrida carteles listed before Christmas. They have now been officially announced at a gala organised by the Las Ventas empresa, Plaza1. The gala was very much aimed at a young audience - so, too, the rather tasteless poster for the feria showing a somewhat worried-looking Andrés Roca Rey with his shirt unbuttoned.
Although only Alejandro Talavante, Morante de la Puebla and Borja Jiménez achieved Puerta Grande triumphs last year in the series commencing with the first corrida of San Isidro and ending with la Corrida In Memoriam (this year, the Beneficencia will be the final event), Madrid witnessed a fine and varied month of festejos, and similar fare appears to be on the cards once again.
With Morante de la Puebla absent this year despite the matador’s late decision to forego his ‘retirement’ at Sevilla’s Feria de Abril, four toreros (compared to six in 2025) have been offered three appearances in Madrid’s series. Two of these are unsurprising - last year’s feria triunfador, Alejandro Talavante, and the normally successful Fernando Adrián. Of the other two, young Víctor Hernández was the torero who arguably aroused most interest in Las Ventas last year, while Pablo Aguado, whose toreo took a definite step forward in 2025, is selected to fill Morante’s shoes.
Fifteen toreros - two more than last year - will perform twice. The appearances of Andrés Roca Rey and Borja Jiménez are pushed back to late in the series; Juan Ortega’s, Miguel Ángel Perera’s, Daniel Luque’s, Tomás Rufo’s, Sebastián Castella’s, Diego Urdiales’, Emilio de Justo’s and Paco Ureña’s twin afternoons are all predictable given their previous treatment here; Román and Fortes are rewarded for their 2025 performances; the veterans Antonio Ferrera and Morenito de Aranda are brought back following triumphs abroad; and David de Miranda, the breakthrough matador of 2025, is also provided with two bites of the cherry.
Of the 25 matadors given a single afternoon, only Manuel Escribano and David Galván are probably disappointed with their placement. Elsewhere, there are three confirmations of alternativa for Tristán Barroso, Manuel Diosleguarde and the Mexican Bruno Aloi and appearances by the nearly-new matadors Isaac Fonseca, Molina, Jarocho, Ismael Martín, Samuel Navalón and the French artista Clemente. Veterans feature in the form of El Cid, José Carlos Venegas, Manzanares, the Mexican Ernesto Javier Calita, Escribano and Ignacio Uceda Leal, while Galván, Jesús Enrique Colombo, Álvaro Lorenzo, Juan Leal, Juan de Castilla, Gómez del Pilar, Pepe Moral, Damian Castaño, José Garrido and a fortunate Gonzalo Caballero also have an opportunity to triumph at the world’s most important bullring.
Such a selection of toreros also reflects the range of ganaderías on display. The figuras’ choice, Victoriano del Río, is the most favoured, providing two full corridas, one for Castella, de Justo and Rufo; la Beneficencia for Talavante, Roca Rey and Hernández; and half of Borja Jiménez’s en solitario Corrida In Memoriam. Two other ganaderías - La Quinta and Juan Pedro Domecq - provide two corridas apiece, while Conde de Mayalde and Fuente Ymbro will each field a corrida and a novillada. There are no bulls from Santiago Domecq, nor Álvaro Núñez, and only three from Domingo Hernández (for that Corrida In Memoriam). Toristas will be content with the appearance of bulls from Partido de Resina, Saltillo, Pedraza de Yeltes, Adolfo and Victorino Martín and José Escolar, although perhaps less so with their being spread throughout San Isidro rather than in a compact week.
Of course, there are absences that some aficionados would have liked to have seen in the series. Apart from that of Morante, no spots have been made available for Ginés Marín, Curro Díaz, Joaquín Galdós, Luis Gerpe or Christian Parejo, while Marco Pérez and Aarón Palacio appear to have decided to give this year’s San Isidro a miss.
Arguably, the most interesting carteles are those of May 9 (Perera, Luque and Rufo with bulls of La Quinta), May 24 (Fortes, David de Miranda and Víctor Hernández with alcurrucenes), May 27 (Fonseca, Molina and Jarocho with bulls of Pedraza de Yeltes), June 4 (de Justo, Borja Jiménez and Víctor Hernández facing jandillas), the June 7 In Memoriam corrida and la Beneficencia which will close the series on June 14.
The novilleros perhaps do not hold as much interest as in years just gone. Cristina Sánchez’s Tomás Bastos and JJ Padilla’s Martín Morilla will contest the opening novillada alongside Álvaro Serrano, winner of the 2025 Circuito de Novilladas de Madrid; Peruvian Pedro Luis, the Liga Nacional de Novilladas vencedor Mario Vilau and Julio Norte the second; while the third will feature the Mexican Emiliano Osornio with Pedro Montaldo and the highly promising Julio Méndez. Olga Casado - to no great surprise, although it’s a shame - does not feature amongst the carteles.
Las Ventas will hold two festejos de rejones, both featuring Diego Ventura and bulls of the Murube encaste. Appearing alongside Diego will be fellow Portuguese Rui Fernandes, Andy Cartagena, Guillermo Hermoso de Mendoza, and the French rejoneadora Lea Vicens.
Telemadrid will once again televise and stream the complete series of festejos en abierto in addition to the traditional May 2 corrida goyesca which, this year, will feature Ignacio Uceda Leal, El Cid and Javier Cortés with bulls of El Pilar. New for 2026 will be the ability to view recordings of each bullfight for a week after the event has taken place.