La Feria del Aficionado 2025
article and photos by Roy Gittings
‘Vendedor’ of Cuadri charging to the picador
While last year’s feria was held in bad weather, this year was, thankfully, just the opposite. The novillada, however, began with very strong winds which, fortunately, abated and while the sun was quite welcome and comfortable, both María Elena and I are still suffering from sunburnt hands. The attendance was excellent, with an almost full plaza for the Saturday morning novillada and practically full with aficionados standing at the back of the tendidos for the two corridas de toros. The excellent team of horses again came from the French stables of Alain Bonijol.
Novillada matinal: Saturday, 26 April.
The feria opened on Saturday morning with two novillos of Barcial (encaste Vega-Villar from Veragua and Santa Coloma) and two of Alicia Chico (encaste Manuel Arranz from Conde de la Corte) for novilleros Jesús de la Calzada (rosa palo y oro) and Miguel Andrades (verde manzana y negro). While the novilleros performed 14 and 13 times respectively last year, this was only their second outing this year. Both performed well, and Calzada took a vuelta after killing his first bull.
‘Jitano’ of Barcial, a berrendo en negro, came out running along the barrera and was hesitant in Calzada’s cape play. The same trait was to be seen in the first two pics, but it bucked up somewhat in the third running to the horse, only to receive a pretty bad pic from the renowned picador Aurelio Cruz.
In banderillas, ‘Jitano’ reverted to its previous form and wanted no part in the proceedings. After a brindis to the organisers, Jesús de la Calzada walked to the centre of the ring and managed to hold the bull there in very close muletazos during six tandas. The estocada was desprendida but effective and Jesús took a trip around the plaza to great applause.
‘Tintado’ of Alicia Chico, with a black hide, came out in third place. It was a beautiful looking animal with astifino horns but had very little to offer in terms of bravery. It received three picotazos and routine banderillas. In the faena de muleta it kept falling to the floor but Jesús managed a delantera and caida sword thrust. The novillo was jeered during the arrastre and the crowd’s reaction to Calzada’s performance was silence.
Miguel Andrades’ first novillo and second of the morning, ‘Cidrón’, from Barcial, had a a berrendo en negro hide and, although it lowered its head in capotes, it was reluctant to charge through them. The French picador Luc Tosello was not on his best form and after the third pic, the novillo left the horse wobbling and staggered somewhat. The president immediately waved his green handkerchief. The berrendo en negro sobrero was from the same ganadería. Its horn formation lived up to its name of ‘Cornicorto’. Andrades gave some excellent verónicas, receiving a lot of applause. ‘Cornicorto’ was extremely hesitant to push in the tercio de varas and to go forward in banderillas, with Andrades carrying out the suerte himself to a lot of applause. The novillo wanted no part of the faena de muleta which dragged on with the novillero trying to build some sort of faena and the novillo failing to do its part. Three tries with the sword and Miguel heard an aviso and silence from the public.
Miguel went to the toriles to receive ‘Gobernador’ of Alicia Chico a portagayola. His capework was excellent with several verónicas and walking chicuelinas and a revolera to take the novillo to the horse, where it lost most of the stamina it had. Miguel again placed banderillas in spectacular form and, after a brindis to the organisers, went to the centre of the ring and dropped to his knees. ‘Gobernador’ went well in four derechazos, but in the many tandas that followed, found it difficult to charge. After a pinchazo hondo and many descabellos, Miguel heard another aviso and the novillo finally dropped.
Corrida de toros vespertine: Saturday, 26 Abril
The plaza was almost full to the brim for the first of two corridas. The cartel read three bulls of Prieto de la Cal (encaste Veragua) and three of Cuadri (encaste Cuadri from Urcola and Santa Coloma) for Luis Gerpe (violeta y oro), Juan de Castilla (blanco y oro) and Cristóbal Reyes (azul marino y oro).
The first bull to enter was a jabonero sucio, the predominant capa of Prieto de la Cal, by the name of ‘Felino’. It went well in the opening cape play of Gerpe, (in his second outing of the season), and charged from the centre of the ring in two puyazos and even further out for two more. However, it was somewhat shy after feeling the pics, which were well placed in all four entries by the French picador Gabin Rehabi, who had to salute after a lot of applause from the aficionados. ‘Felino’ also played its part in the suerte de banderillas. But things changed in the suerte de muleta, which Gerpe began very near to the barrera but immediately moved towards the centre of the ring. ‘Felino’ showed its casta, but also its mansedumbre. At one point, Gerpe was thrown and his suit was ripped open but he stuck to his task with series to the right and left and finally placed a delantero sword thrust. ‘Felino’’s casta was highlighted once more in its refusal to lie down. It dropped four times and managed to raise itself thrice. The puntillero offered some ugly stabbing in the neck. The aficionados stood and applauded ‘Felino’ when it was taken out of the ring.
Gerpe’s second and fourth of the evening was from the ganadería of Cuadri which was applauded on entry. Some good verónicas were administered by Gerpe with ‘Intermediario’ lowering its head in each lance. In the suerte de varas, ‘Intermediario’’s behaviour was quite changeable, throwing its head in the first pic, pushing well in the second and third and galloping from the centre of the ring in the fourth. The picador, Antonio Peralta, was given a hearty round of applause, as was the cuadrilla after a good tercio de banderillas performed by Joao Pedro in the lidia and Manuel Gómez and Javier Tornay with the sticks. Things became somewhat difficult in the faena de muleta with ‘Intermediario’ displaying casta coupled with a lack of stamina. However, despite a tossing, the matador stuck to his task and gave several series with right and left-hand, passes which included some good naturales. The sword thrust was defective and there was silence for the performance of both bull and bullfighter.
Today was the first outing of the season for the Colombian, Juan de Castilla, but he was in no way rusty. His first of the afternoon was named ‘Vendedor’. It had a black hide, veleto horns and was from the ranch of Cuadri. While it was a beautiful-looking animal, it was short of stamina. It went well in the opening lances of Juan de Castilla, and picador Hector Vicente had to take care not to over-pic in all three entries. We then saw excellent sticks from ex-matador Iván García and the faena de muleta was played out in the centre of the ring with a very noble ‘Vendedor’ charging well with both right and left horns. ‘Vendedor’ died with its mouth closed to a good estocada with the matador being awarded the only trophy of the evening.
Juan’s second of the evening was from the ranch of Prieto de la Cal. Its hide was jabonero sucio and it went by the name of ‘Hicicón’. The horn formation was almost playero. It came out of the toriles running quite fast and immediately showed its manso con casta character when it hooked the capote from Juan’s hands. It went to the horse three times but threw its head at the peto rather than pushing it. The suerte de banderillas was extremely difficult and only two pairs of sticks were placed. For some reason, Juan dedicated the death of the bull to the public. The faena de muleta was a battle from the start with the matador trying to wear down the bull which was throwing its horns at everything that came near. Juan did well to stay in the race and managed to place an estocada corta delantera, but it needed three attempts with the verduguillo to see the back of ‘Hocicón’, which, surprisingly, was applauded by more than a few aficionados.
The first bull of Cristóbal Reyes in his third outing this season, was from the ranch of Prieto de la Cal. Its name was ‘Arrempuja’ and its hide was jabonero sucio. It was applauded on entry to the plaza, but that was the only applause it heard because it soon displayed its mansedumbre and developed sentido. Reyes gave good capework and took the bull to the horse with ease. ‘Arrempuja’ went three times to the horse from the centre of the ring, each time refusing to push. The suerte de banderillas was extremely chaotic with the bull running directly at the banderilleros. The faena de muleta was a battle with the matador running around the bull to tire it out and eventually managing a pinchazo and an estocada perpendicular baja. There was silence for both participants.
The final bull of the evening was called ‘Bronceado’. Its hide was black and it was from the ranch of Cuadri. It was the bull of the day. However, when the gate of the toril opened, ‘Bronceado’ stepped very warily into the arena, surveying the horizon, and took its time to charge the capote of Cristóbal Reyes. When it did charge, it was with class. Reyes took ‘Bronceado’ to the centre of the ring and we saw a wonderful suerte de varas by Javier Ortiz who tempered the charge four times, with the bull in the last two pics charging from the other side of the ring. Reyes regaled us with a quite of delantales and a media verónica. The banderilleros were not to be outdone and gave us an excellent suerte with Victor Pérez, especially, placing excellent pairs of rehiletes. Unfortunately, Reyes lost the plot and could not harness the nobility of ‘Bronceado’ except in one series of excellent naturales. The matador lost any chance of trophies with the deficient sword work. The bull was awarded a triumphant vuelta of the ring.
Whilst there were ups and downs throughout the evening, the final impression was that of a very good corrida for aficionados. The organisers, the Peña 3 Puyazos awarded prizes to banderilleros Joao Pedro and Victor Pérez and picadors Gabin Rehabi and Javier Ortiz, and thanked both ganaderos for the quality of their animals.
Corrida de toros matinal: Sunday, 27 April
Today was the big day of the feria and, fortunately, all went well. This is the feria del toro, not the feria de los matadores, and I was somewhat disheartened when the organisers announced that a sole matador, Damian Castaño, in his second outing this season after being gored in Madrid, would face six bulls of Dolores Aguirre (encaste Conde de la Corte – Atanasio Fernández). My thoughts ran back to last year when this matador, with the same ganadería, behaved rather rashly and was carried to the infirmary. This year, however, his behaviour was that of a much more mature matador de toros. The afición showed great support and it was a pity that his technique with sword was rather haphazard, which left him with no trophies to parade around the ring. The technique was a sort of hybrid between the classic one–two, where the left hand lowers the muleta and then the sword is placed, and what I see as today’s standard, where muleta and sword are offered at the same time.
Damian came into the ring alone and walked to the centre to tremendous applause. The cuadrilla stayed in the patio de cuadrillas until the applause abated and then all came into the ring for a triumphant paseíllo. Damian had to salute once more after the paseíllo broke.
The first Dolores Aguirre, with a nedro mulato salpicado hide, was called ‘Carafea’ and came into the ring somewhat warily of the capes, shaking its head and not following through, although it gained confidence as the lidia progressed and we saw three excellent suertes de varas (from four entries) from both picador Hector Piña and the bull. Iván García placed some wonderful sticks, approaching very close to the horns. Damian began the faena de muleta close to the barrera, but immediately moved to the tercios where the bull responded much better. He then moved to the centre of the ring but had to work hard to make the bull charge. It went better on the right, and the second series was excellent. ‘Carafea’ then began to lose stamina and the matador had to force single passes. His road to Calvary began here with three pinchazos and an estocada corta delantera, but he still heard lots of applause. So did ‘Carafea’.
‘Salado’, with a black hide, came out a little afraid of the capes but soon charged well on the right. It went well in two pics and we were treated to a quite of tafalleras followed by another pic where ‘Salado’ just slept with its head against the peto. The faena de muleta was brief, with the bull refusing to charge and the afición signalling that Damian should take the sword. An estocada corta, a pinchazo and many thrusts with the verduguillo were needed before the bull dropped to the floor. The afición was silent.
‘Cigarrero II’, a common name in the ganadería, with a castaño hide, came out in third place and walked out of the toril. Damian gave some lances de tanteo, but the cloth was ripped from his hands. The banderilleros placed it quite close to the horse for the first pic where it threw its head quite a lot. After the second, it ran from the horse and, in the third, it suffered a lot of abuse from Gabin Rehabi. It was made to go for a fourth time, which was just routine but enough to make the suerte de banderillas utterly chaotic with the bull waiting for the banderilleros to approach. The faena de muleta began with excellent tanteo por abajo where Damian succeeded in fixing the bull's attention in the muleta, although, by then, it was displaying mansedumbre. The series were principally with the right hand, moving the bull from here to there but to no avail. A pinchazo was followed by a sword thrust which was contraria baja and perpendicular and then use of the verduguillo, and Damian was awarded an ovation.
‘Langosto’, a jabonero which came out in fourth place, ran away from the capes and, although Damian gave two excellent verónicas, they were insufficient to hold the bull in suerte. The suerte de varas managed to change the bull’s approach somewhat, and in the third and fourth we saw ‘Langosto’ charging from the opposite side of the plaza, although it did not push in the embroque. The suerte de banderillas was carried out to applause. Damian worked hard to keep the bull interested in the muleta and managed some passes en redondo with the bull humillando. For once, Damian only needed a single tendido sword thrust. His reward was a vuelta al ruedo.
‘Pitillito’, the fifth of the morning, was a fine-looking negro burraco with horns to match, and it received a lot of applause on entry to the ring. Damian heard applause for some good opening verónicas. The suerte de varas was lacklustre with ‘Pitillito’ walking for the last two of three varas, and, although they were well placed, the bull lacked interest. The suerte de banderillas was difficult because the bull ran out of stamina. Damian began the faena de muleta trying to draw the bull into the muleta and, although the charges were short, he managed to lower the head and perform some passes en redondo. However, in an early series he was tossed and pushed around on the floor. Although visibly shaken, he tried to get more passes from ‘Pitillito’, which, by then, was exhausted and fell to the floor. Damian took the sword and managed another tendido thrust and three descabellos. He received an ovation.
Damian Castaño with the last of his six aguirres
The final bull of the day, a negro girón (white blotches on its flanks) was another ‘Carafea’, but a year older than its brother which came out in first place, and was the most manso of the morning. There was very little capework because the bull was entering with its feet, not its horns. It did go three times to the horse, but each time ran away, and, needless to say, the suerte de banderillas was difficult. Damian, positive all morning, went out to do his best, but in the tanteo de muleta he was disarmed. Always in the face of the bull, he gave right and left-hand passes, but in each one, the charge was shorter than the previous one. ‘Carafea’ eventually went to the toriles and Damian played it as best he could, but again the sword was his Achilles heel with pinchazo after pinchazo. For his honest work all morning, he was given a great round of applause in the centre of the ring.
This feria is growing year by year. I missed the first, but the attendance figures this year were very much higher than those of last. Then, the Dolores Aguirre bulls gave far better play than this year, but, for the aficionado, the corrida was enjoyable thanks to the effort of all in the ring. I, for one, hope to be back next year.
A big thank you to the feria organisers, the Peña 3 Puyazos.