Easy riders - Roca Rey & Marco Pérez
It’s unsurprising that Andrés Roca Rey didn’t immediately take up Borja Jiménez’s suggestion, made at the gala to launch San Isidro, that he join the sevillano in a victorinada at Madrid’s Feria de Otoño. A look at the carteles the Peruvian has agreed to to date reveals a figura seemingly keen to avoid competition other than at particularly prestigious events.
At the time of writing, Roca Rey features in 12 published carteles, the most renowned of which are the Easter Sunday corrida at Sevilla and Madrid’s la Beneficencia. At both of these, he has agreed to an element of competition from potential challengers - from David de Miranda in Sevilla and from Víctor Hernández in Madrid.
Otherwise, his carteles are pretty bland. Olivenza on March 8 is the first of five corridas where Alejandro Talavante heads the cartel. Here, Emilio de Justo is the third torero; at Valencia on March 14 Samuel Navalón fills that position; Marco Pérez takes the spot at Navalmoral de la Mata on March 29; Pablo Aguado joins Talavante and Roca Rey at Sevilla on April 17; and the fifth occurrence is Madrid’s Beneficencia. José María Manzanares is another well-worn companion cartel header for Roca Rey, at Castellón with Aguado on March 15, Brihuega with Juan Ortega on April 11, and Sevilla with Javier Zulueta on April 23. Diego Urdiales takes on the senior role on two occasions - at Arnedo on March 22 (another corrida to feature Manzanares too) and in Madrid on May 28 when Bruno Aloi will confirm the alternativa.
Despite the rumours that the Peruvian’s veto of Daniel Luque had been put to bed over the winter, there is still no announcement of a joint appearance by the two matadors, while the only appearance with Borja Jiménez to date (hence, perhaps, the sevillano’s gala challenge) will be at Mont de Marsan on July 22, when young Marco Pérez will be the third torero on the cartel.
Speaking of Marco Pérez, here is another torero who can be accused of wanting things easy. The salmantino took the alternativa at Nîmes last June and went on to take part in 29 corridas before the European temporada ended. Over the winter, he has performed in some 15 corridas in Latin America. To date, with nine carteles published, he has an interesting 2026 season ahead of him, sharing the bill with Sebastián Castella at Arroyo de la Encomienda and Istres; with David de Miranda and Borja Jiménez at Olivenza; with Miguel Ángel Perera and Tomás Rufo at Castellón, and Perera and Víctor Hernández at Valencia; with Manzanares and Talavante at Arles; the Navalmoral de la Mata and Mont de Marsan carteles mentioned earlier; and finally an afternoon with El Fandi and Emilio de Justo at Guijuelo in August. All well and good, but a torero with his experience and pretensions should not have steered clear of participating in Sevilla’s Feria de Abril, nor Madrid’s San Isidro, which appears to be what has occurred. One wonders if doubts are beginning to emerge in Pérez’s camp about the youngster’s ability to reach the top.
These are two matadors who - in Roca Rey’s case because of his present status as a leading figura, and in Marco Pérez’s case because of his oft-stated ambition to become a figura - should be taking on more challenges than their 2026 temporadas currently contain. Their present stances are a disservice to la Fiesta.