Jock Richardson

Thursday 22 May: Five bulls of Alcurrucén and one (4 bis) of Zacarías Moreno for Sebastián Castella, Miguel Ángel Perera and Daniel Luque

Many years ago, I read in one of the annual reviews in 6 Toros 6 that it was not surprising that the Lozanos had produced some decent bulls that year: they produced so many that, by the laws of pure chance, they were bound to send out some decent ones. Chance, luck, the bull gods themselves, were frowning on them today. The five bulls that were killed were variously weak, cowardly, hesitant and lacking in any qualities that would have merited calling them toros bravos. They provided a reminder of what it was like to be back in Las Ventas after a year.

For some years now, because we are older than most and have weaker legs than most, we have sat in the lower regions of tendido alto de sol in either 5 or 6: it is easy to get there, we can afford the tickets, and the shade comes after the third bull. It is not exactly the front row of the stalls in La Scala Milan, but it serves. The oft-decried denizens of 7 and 8, with their green pañuelos, tango handclaps and shouts of “¡Tooooro!” are hard to understand at first, but one quickly realises their grievances are valid and eventually agrees with them. The presidents share the undeveloped critical qualities of many in the plaza: one day they can deny a demanded ear for a miracle, the next they can award one in surrender to a minority for a session of pseudo-tremendismo. What’s not to like? Las Ventas is the Cathedral of Bullfighting, after all, and, with all its deficiencies, it is the only place to be during San Isidro.

The three matadors today have 60 years of alternativa in total. We might have expected them to do something with these pitiable animals. They listlessly, as if they cared nought for the place, the bulls or their public, pegged endless pases to them and bored everyone to tears. Perhaps the only spark of the afternoon was Castella with the Zacarías Moreno. This toro had a steady and rhythmical charge and enough strength to allow Castella to build a faena. He did so with a calculated focus and care that was as appealing as it was convincing. Here we had a genuine maestro with some pliable material. It was too pliable for me and Castella’s straight-line opening of derechazos, cambiados, pases de espaldas and naturales, took so much advantage of the bull’s decency as to appear frivolous. Still, he was soon creating a faena as a work of art, with complete series of classical pases. So intensely was Castella involved that he went on for too long, passed the aviso and placed an estocada desprendida. The petition looked very strong to me, but the palco here cannot count. The ovation seemed heartfelt.

The rest of the corrida merely proved that “sin toro no hay torero”. No matter how hard Perera and Luque tried – and they were trying far less hard than they might have done - all they found were dragged feet, stumbling short charges and lack of commitment from the bulls.

Friday 23 May: Six bulls of Victoriano del Río for Emilio de Justo, Andrés Roca Rey and Tomás Rufo

I have watched more than 2,800 corridas, and only twice have I been unable to source a ticket of my choosing at a price I was prepared to pay. That was in a San Isidro many years ago when Joselito (not El Gallo) was at the height of his powers. We solved the problem by hiring a car, driving to Talavera, and attending a corrida there. We bought a nice handcrafted fireside rug and a suitcase in which to carry it home off a street market, ate a nice lunch, and still did not pay as much as the lowest reventa price I had been offered for the Joselito ticket.

When I opened the Plaza 1 web page at 0900 on the day las entradas sueltas went on sale, the only tickets available for the corrida of Friday 23 July were in some VIP area of the plaza where the few disposable tickets cost infinitely more than a man who would not cross the street to see Roca Rey would deign to pay. Besides, there will be a TV in my hotel, and I would have to choose between Roca Rey, the “King” with no clothes, in Madrid, or Morante, heaven-sent personification of toreo artístico y puro, in Jerez, and watch them on TV. We chose the new royalty with Emilio de Justo and Tomás Rufo.

I do not approve of reports of televised corridas. Before they get to the reporter, they are filtered by the cameraman, by the editor in the caravan, and mangled by the sufferers from verbal diarrhoea in the commentary box who are more interested in Fernando El Gallo, Joselito El Gallo, and a posse of other matadors who were dead long before they were born, than the lads in the ring; they are no longer the reporter’s corrida as he saw it.

Poor Roca drew the least palatable two of the six. Well, maybe he did not draw them. On the morning of the corrida, his insistence that he did not participate in the sorteo and would torear the bulls his veedores chose for him murmured through the press. I hope the rumours were true; they added to the “King’s” naked irony. No matter, he was regular with the two he faced, killed badly and left on foot.

Emilio de Justo drew two noble, strong, handsome toros bravos. With his first, he seemed out of sorts. The bull was impressive in the first two acts and de Justo seemed to be in third gear throughout a faena that started with a series of derechazos made in heaven and gradually descended through complete classical series. Despite its technical merit, the faena transmitted little and, after a poor kill, led to silence. Roca’s team must have been cursing themselves when the fourth bull emerged. That it was a brave charging machine was obvious from the start and de Justo caught its character early. The intensity of the faena increased as it unfolded from low opening doblones, and by half way, de Justo was amo de la plaza. He knew he was doing well and ended with pases en redondo, derechazos without the mock sword and an estoconazo de ley. He had won his ear.

We have watched Tomás Rufo since his novillada days in such places as Algemesí, saw his successful alternativa in Valladolid, and have witnessed some outstanding faenas in Castellón. He has always been confident, classical and serene. His work this afternoon was, therefore, disappointing. His first bull was enthusiastic in the first two and a half suertes, co-operated in some good-looking effective pics and allowed the peones to create a fine tercio de banderillas. As Rufo opened his faena with easeful naturales en redondo, close, templados and linked, things omened well. Soon, however, the toro was braking and hooking dangerously upwards and Rufo was flummoxed. To be generous, he did his best, but that best amounted to distant pases de rodillas and a long lesson in the pegging of single pases at a large lateral distance from the bull. It signified nothing and ended with three pinchazos, an estocada corta and a descabello.

Victoriano del Río has a reputation for sending satisfying bulls to Madrid. ‘Albardero’ was the most outstanding of the four that had been shared in the sorteo. It charged nobly, strongly, and when Rufo so arranged things, from a great distance. We were back in the company of the Tomás Rufo whom we had come to admire and to respect. He challenged from a distance and the toro responded; the torero standing stock still, the muleta low, the bull was drawn round into naturales en redondo with clock-stopping temple. The bull had a wonderful left horn: Rufo has a wonderful left hand. The naturales were complete, classical and enduring. As the faena ended, it was in a coda of ayudados por bajo that were close, clean and accurate. He stood on the doorstep of a triumph and the main gate. He tripped before he got there by extending his faena with defective derechazos. The moment lost, he killed with two pinchazos and a descabello. That his triumph ended in a vuelta was entirely his own fault.

Saturday 24 May: the Sevillian Mano a Mano - Six bulls of Juan Pedro Domecq for Juan Ortega and Pablo Aguado

“Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before …” - anyone? Two toreros artistas with six toros artistas, hand made for artists. I hate to admit it, but I keep forgetting who these two toreros are. Were it not for Andrew Moore’s photographs, not an image of either of them would remain fixed in my mind. Of course they have shown flashes of torería before me, but never enough to give me food for thought. They did little today to alter that situation.

On the third afternoon of our San Isidro 2025, the Mexican behind me leant over my shoulder and asked why I was taking notes so assiduously. Jokingly, I said, “So that I will not have forgotten what I have seen by tomorrow.”

“Were you here on Thursday? I asked him.

“Yes,” he said, quizzically.

“And who were the toreros you saw and where did the bulls come from?”

He could not tell me. Had he asked me the same questions about any of the preceding days, I would have had a hard task to summon answers up from my memory.

He did set me thinking, though. How was it that I could look down on the sand and see Luis Segura toreando ‘Tomatero’ in 1959 as clearly as if it was happening now? How was it I could vividly see the rain and blood sodden El Cordobés struggling to keep the Benítez Cubero from taking his eyes out on the afternoon of his confirmation in 1964? How could I still see Castella and Bautista through stair-rod rain, cutting ears in a flood bigger than Noah’s in 2007? (“Could we aficionados ask for anything better than that?” asked Andrew Moore as we walked up to the metro together after the corrida). How could one not still see El Juli below us against the boards of 5 raising all to the gates of heaven with ‘Cantapájaros’ that same year? The answer is simple. On the days in question, we had seen bulls that at least approached being toros bravos being toreado - or not in the case of Cordobés - by men full of ambition to succeed. That is an animal and the kind of man that has so far been sorely absent from our San Isidro 2025. We remember the memorable.

I hate to admit it, but had my inquisitor stuck around till the end of the corrida, he would have seen that I had stopped taking notes after the third bull. I have only ever done that before for meteorological reasons. This time, it was because of the dreadful snore the occasion had become. Even Pablo Aguado’s brief but well-constructed faena, elevated by a perfect natural, to a replacement bull of Torrealta, which won him an ear, did little to send aficionados home happy.

Sunday 25 May: Six bulls of Fuente Ymbro for Curro Díaz, Román and Diego San Román

Being a man with no favourite torero does not prevent me from having a soft spot for some of them. Today, there were two such toreros on the cartel. Having spent years listening to the Penning brothers extolling the torería and chispa of Curro Díaz, and having watched him during his Azpeitia phase and found that they were right – they were right about Morante and Morenito de Aranda as well – I developed a soft spot for him. We saw Román first as a novillero early in his career on the day Simon Casas took over as his apoderado, met him practising in la Plaza Valenciana a few days later and found him charming and communicative, and watched him regularly as his career has developed. In the ring, he is as brave as a lion and so keen to please that he seems to count very little for survival. I have a soft spot for him also.

*Diego San Román (Image from zonafranca.mx)*

‘Infortunado’, the bull of Diego San Román’s confirmation, was a handsome fellow and performed well in the first suerte. San Román opened a la mexicana with some templadas verónicas and performed a quite of saltilleras that rightly aroused great enthusiasm. The bull started to drift downwards after that. It was halt in banderillas, was soon pawing the ground by the boards and the debutant was forced to go through the motions in an ever-downward spiral toward single pegged pases at increasing lateral distances to an aviso and a bravely executed estocada. The sixth bull looked well in the early stages also, taking the pics well and allowing three well-placed pairs of sticks. As the faena started, it had started to raise its head at the end of each pass, clearly looking to decapacitate the Mexican. San Román’s answer was to put the lure in his left hand and gradually humiliate his difficult adversary. It was hair-raisingly positive stuff and very dangerous. But it was toreo of a kind modern matadors are not often keen to perform. This lad was bent on showing his worth and he did it with technique, courage and persistence. As the commentators were probably saying on the other channel, it had “mucho mérito”.

Curro Díaz drew a couple of Fuente Ymbros that gave him few options other than to show flashes of his chispa and torería. The first looked strong in the early phases, but it was soon braking and hooking, and was soon rajado; there were some complete derechazos before the series became patchy and man and bull separated by a noticeable distance. It went on to the aviso and Curro killed with an estocada. The fourth bull lost its energy very quickly also. After accepting a couple of firm pics and charging nobly in three successful pairs of sticks, it dug in and refused to move. The mature and wise torero realised he was trying to get water from a dry well and soon killed with a media en el rincón and an estocada.

‘Impositor’ was a castaño Fuente Ymbro that charged willingly from great distances. The opening lances would have impressed had Román not lost his lure in his enthusiasm. The bull charged from a distance for its first well-taken pic and complied in a light one. Román’s quite of verónicas, saltilleras, and a sweeping larga was as uplifting as it was dramatic. After a regular tercio de banderillas, the bull lost its original zest and Román had difficulty in engaging it. There were some complete derechazos in series to start and a similar one of naturales, in which the bull was totally under Román’s control and the toreo was convincing. Soon, the toro was fleeing and Román was having to torear in the querencia of the boards. He did not give up, was mathematical in his alignment of the bull and placed an honest estocada.

The fifth bull was strong, noble and energetic, a credit to Gallardo. Román must have decided that the best way to administer toreo to this charging machine was to cite from a distance. The faena was, to my view, faulty in that the long cites needed long rest periods as Román found his next cite position, and that many of the powerful charges were in straight lines at the offered lure. It was all very spectacular, and the majority loved it. And there was no denying that the temple, rhythm and confidence in the shorter pases were inspired. The whole ended in manoletinas, a pinchazo and a media estocada. Román had won a genuine ear. How great it is to watch a matador who is keener to please his audience than to preserve his life and who develops his toreo by the day.

27 May: Six bulls of Dolores Aguirre for Fernando Robleño, Damián Castaño and Juan de Castilla

This was a strange corrida of Dolores Aguirre. Frequently bulls of considerable size, the middle four today averaged 548 kilos, not a surprise with atanasios. The first weighed 602 kilos and the sixth 669 kilos, way above the defined weight of a toro de lidia.

Fernando Robleño, a torero de Madrid, an expert with toros duros and nearing the end of his career (he is a professor at the Madrid Bullfighting School) faced the first, a well-armed quatreño. From the beginning, it was distracted and Robleño had a hard task to engage it. It ran into the horse from afar to take a first firm pic, turning the horse around and pushed hard at a firm second. It revolted against the banderilleros, the head rising dangerously, and, though it showed a degree of nobility in Robleño’s early linked and templados right and left-handed pases, it was soon clear that he did not like it. Twice, he struck bone before placing a complete estocada. It had been a big, demanding, bull with some nobility and, though Robleño’s faena had shown some effort, the result was disappointing. And so was the work to the fourth bull. It cannot have been a lack of understanding on Robleño’s part; he has been toreando bulls like this for years. For whatever reason, he administered a few short pases completely devoid of drama and killed with a fulminant estocada.

Damián Castaño, as Roy Gittings told us in this blog, fought six bulls of Dolores Aguirre on 27 April in San Augustín de Guadalix and I seem to remember reporting on his encounters with doloresaguirres in Bilbao in 2023 and 2024. Damián is no stranger to these bulls. His work to his first was wise rather than frivolous and technically interesting rather than spectacular. From the start, he was drawing the bull’s erratically moving head down in low lances. It manifested a weakness of the legs as it emerged from its first pic, but charged from a distance for a redeeming second. It was strong also in banderillas and the habitual atanasio upward hooking was absent. The faena was generally a demonstration of dominating toreo save for a couple of series in which Castaño had to edge across the line of charge to find the cite position and one in which, with no warning and for no obvious reason, the bull charged directly at him. The rest was calm, satisfying work to make the bull put its head down in the charges and follow the lure in close and templados naturales. He ended with an estocada tendida to silence.

The fifth bull was weak-legged and distracted at first. Wisely and carefully, Castaño encouraged it with his low, enticing lances. It charged well for its first pic and allowed Juan Sierra and Alberto Carrero to provide a great tercio de banderillas. This bull had rhythm and commitment; Castaño took advantage of these virtues. The first part of the faena was beautiful, with complete series of derechazos. Gradually, the bull weakened and, by sheer force of will and applied knowledge, Castaño kept drawing linked, shorter now and harder to extract, pases from it. He killed with a pinchazo delantero and an estocada tendida. The petition was minoritaria and no ear was awarded. Interestingly, there was a greater show of pañuelos in 7 and 8 than elsewhere - the “hooligans” up there are not daft.

I have a soft spot for Juan de Castilla. I will never forget the afternoon of 30 July 2013 in which the first novillero on a two-man sin-pics in San Adrián decided shortly after his first novillo entered that having a nervous breakdown was easier than fighting novillos and left Juan to kill all four animals by himself, a task he performed majestically. Those who have followed my brief and not entirely successful career as an aficionado práctico may remember an afternoon at a tienta in Brunete where Juan de Castilla ignored the fact that I was well up my eighties, acted as my guru and restored my confidence. Yes, I have a soft spot for Juan de Castilla.

He focussed his first dolores with huge, sweeping lances as it entered; it performed well in the first two acts. Early in the faena, the bull cut in on him and he had to start again. This time, the bull was even wiser and subjected him to a tremendous voltereta. Composed, he was soon into a faena of complete series of pases,naturales at first and then derechazos. His positioning was accurate, his temple serene and his work both structured and dominating. A brave toro and brave matador had come together in a satisfying piece of work. He killed with an estocada, but the bull was going to resist the journey to the Elysian fields: four times it fell, and four times it rose again. It was a dramatic end to a dramatic faena; there was no ear, but the vuelta had been well earned.

Juan had needed medical treatment after his voltereta by the first. The sixth bull weighed 669 kilos. Whether or not Juan de Castilla had seen it in the flesh or in pictures was not clear. Whatever, he marched bravely to the bull-pen gate to meet it. The larga was successful and he gradually drew the long charges of the bull down to a manageable level, all the while making them smoother. The second long charge of the bull to the horse was spoiled by inept picing, but the bull had charged impressively twice. These dramatic, true bullfighting, charges cannot occur without the matador placing the bull in the right place for them to be initiated. The bull behaved well for the banderilleros, but was soon manseando in short head-raising strolls to the muleta. It was dangerous, but de Castilla tried hard to persuade it to charge more positively. He failed and killed the bull with a three-quarters sword in el rincón delivered from a monstrous curve.

28 May: Six bulls of Garcigrande for Morante de la Puebla, Alejandro Talavante and Tomás Rufo.

Never having been an “-ista” of any kind, and in spite of thinking, the first time I saw him, as the novillero in a festival in Haro in 1997, that Morante de la Puebla might become an important figure in la Fiesta, his career has stretched patience to the limit and made me wonder what his supporters saw in him. He showed me when he cut the ear in Bilbao and has continued to do so ever since. In recent years, he has achieved a consistency that can only be ignored by the blind. ‘Seminarista’ from Juan Pedro Domecq weighed 582 kilos and met Morante de la Puebla in Madrid shortly after 7.00 p.m. on 28 May 2025: an excellent bull met an excellent matador. As the bull entered the ring, Morante welcomed it with six verónicas so artistic, so templadas, so exquisite and so technically perfect that they were nothing short of miraculous. The bull was strong and knocked the horse over in the first encounter. It was not placed in sitio for the second; Morante practically pointed towards the horse and the bull charged. The banderilleros placed two good pairs, but José María Amorós misjudged his exit from his pair and was at the mercy of the bull. The director of the lidia, resting but still observant, was out from the burladero like a shaft of satin lightning, drinking cup in hand, pirouetted in front of the bull, made two recortes with his unprotected body, performed a perfect quite and saved his subaltern’s life. The faena opened with pases por bajo one after the other, trincherazos and trincherillas, all interspersed with chest pases in a ripe flood of natural bounty. The whole was smooth, natural, planned but apparently pragmatic, clean and pure - a matador in full charge of a bull that could not deny him: another taurine miracle. The body of the faena was a lesson in toreo puro, series of derechazos and naturales so smooth, natural and linked, in a small area of the ring, that near 30,000 voices raised it to the heavens. The entry to kill was appropriate to the faena, en corto y por derecho. It failed to drop the bull and Morante chose to wait rather than use the descabello immediately. When he did take it up, far too late, he needed three stabs to bring things to an end. The ending affected the public not at all. The appeal for an ear was very close to unanimous and should have been granted. The president refused in clear disregard of the reglamentos. No presidential refusal could obliterate the memory of Morante’s historic faena.

*Morante de la Puebla (Image from Plaza1)*

Morante did not like his second bull; no wonder, it was a wandering erratic, and he got rid of it promptly.

Whether or not Talavante and Tomás Rufo knew that there was nothing they could do to match Morante’s miracle was not clear. The pair of them effectively took the afternoon off. These two distinctive artists cannot hide their talents even when they are merely going through the motions. Talavante, with impeccable positioning and temple, drew pases from his hesitant first and surrendered quickly to the lack of character of his second. Rufo drew his first into several series en redondo that were full of temple and seamlessly linked, worthy on a normal day, and killed with a pinchazo and an estocada With the sixth, an example that had little interest in engagement, he worked hard to draw series of naturales that were close, linked and sustained en redondo through to the chest pase; it was more than the fleeing coward deserved. He killed with an estocada atravesada.

29 May: Six bulls of El Torero for Diego Urdiales, Andrés Roca Rey and Rafa Serna (who confirmed his alternativa)

The Sevillian Rafa Serna confirmed the alternativa with the bull ‘Bizantino’. Even though the bull had weak legs, Serna performed a quite of saltilleras that established his confidence and his skill. Urdiales made a quite after the second pic with a series of smooth and complete verónicas that omened well. The bull continued to engage in the competent pairs of banderillas, and Serna might have done well with it. His faena, however, comprised discreet pases at a distance where he tended to throw the bull outwards at the pase endings. The matador seemed insecure. The inevitable manoletinas were confident enough and his estocada, though trasera, was properly prepared for and entered into. He was not to be ignored and marched to la portagayola to greet his second. The larga was only partly successful, but he redeemed himself in a series of closely linked and complete verónicas that bordered on greatness. The bull was weakening fast, but it had a positive left horn and Serna was keen. He coaxed several series of naturales from ‘Barbecho’ as elegant as they were unexpected. He was using the bull well. As its charges became less secure, he became cautious and started to keep well clear. Once again there was redemption in a precise and beautiful abaniqueo at the end before an estocada that was low but effective and won him an ear.

Diego Urdiales is suffering in the middle of un bache and, as in all such cases, it is sad to see. His first bull today was a distracted wanderer that stumbled in its first pic. The only spectacle available was a highly competent suerte de banderillas by those two old retainers of his, El Victor and Victor Hugo Saugar. Diego soon recognised that there was nothing to be gained from persisting and dispatched his quickly deflating balloon with a pinchazo and an estocada. He was no better served with the fourth bull in which weakness combatted nobility and weakness won. Still, Diego did force himself to go through the motions and linked three series of derechazos and one of five naturales. They demonstrated much more persistence than they did art, but left the honesty of Diego Urdiales beyond doubt. He killed with an estocada.

Roca Rey came to San Isidro 2025 for his second contract. There was no trouble getting tickets for this one. Maybe the May 29 corrida had sold out so early because de Justo, or Rufo or the specially selected Victoriano del Ríos were on the cartel. His first bull looked great and behaved impressively in the early stages, Roca Rey responded with some distant verónicas and some flaps to the cite position for the picador. The charges were positive and impressive; the pics were light. So well did ‘Delinciente’ charge in the second act that Viruta and Paquito Algaba had to take salutes. The faena was pure Roca Rey: five pases de rodillas warmed up his public, to whom he had dedicated the bull, before a typical mixture of complete and linked series of derechazos and naturales that could not be denied and a drift outwards into distant, sometimes enganchados, naturales, the linkage gradually atrophying and the ending arriving with single peg and trot away passes. If he had a plan and a clear structure, it was difficult to detect. His estocada trasera was rewarded by silence. The fifth bull entered with a damaged left horn tip to a welcome of dancing verónicas and a skilful recorte. To his great credit, Andrés placed the bull properly en sitio before the picador the second time with beautifully-adjusted low verónicas. Rafa Serna made a final quite with a set of perfectly-formed delantales. Things started to drift downwards in a lacklustre tercio de banderillas and the faena a mixture of clean and well-formed classical pases and half-hearted pseudo tremendismo. The former got some cheers from the shady side and the latter a lot of tango claps from the sunny side. The tight arrimón of pases cambiados was the least appreciated by them. There were just enough of the Roca Rey faithful in the plaza to allow the myopic president to count around 15,000 pañuelos and award an ear of no significance whatsoever.

30 May: Three novillos of Fuente Ymbro and three of El Freixo for Marco Pérez

Every time I see Marco Pérez’s name, a bee starts buzzing in my bonnet. Ever since I saw that clase práctico in Castellón in 2023, I have gleaned the impression that his minders and supporters have exaggerated his worth and his exposure. Sure, he has a developing taurine ability tending to the classic; he is brave; is persistent; and seems to have a self-effacing sense of humour. I have not much liked watching his fellow novilleros fight their way through competitions in los pueblos while he is treated to four-bull montajes with novillos from the most docile of herds and selected companions, sometimes from the highest realms of toreo. He left the ring the day he appeared in Santander last year covered in blood and laden with goodwill. Sightings of him in Vista Alegre and Albacete, both on television, did not alter my opinion that he may become a successful torero, but he will do it with the bull in the ring and not on the flashing advertisements of OnetoroTV, through the close shadowing of Juan Bautista, or the praise of his besotted supporters. He is nowhere near having proved himself yet. All of which made me wonder what his minders thought he might achieve by putting him on with six selected novillos within a week of his far too early alternativa. Of the four who have risked it in the past half century, every single one won the main gate (El Niño de la Taurina was not carried out because he was in the infirmary). I assume they expected a triumph. They got the disappointment they deserved.

The first El Freixo tended to flee and, on the occasions that Pérez caught it, he administered flapped and enganchadas verónicas. It was not properly placed before the horse in two encounters and the banderilleros could not cope with it. The opening doblones were beautifully adjusted and dominating, but Pérez was soon off into a faena of distant naturales with obvious use of the pico and a session of honest endeavour to drag pases from a novillo that did not have them within it. The kill was accomplished with two pinchazos and a metisaca. It had not been a good start.

The second was a Fuente Ymbro and, as Pérez marched it towards los medios with seven verónicas, he was toreando de verdad; it is a pity he took his eyes off the novillo and lost it. The novillo went to the horse three times, knocking it to the ground the first time. This was promising. The faena of pases at media altura, the novillero alternating his hands in derechazos and naturales, started well. The pases were linked, templados and technically perfect. Soon, however, he had to resort to sessions of single pases which at best could be called workmanlike. The feeling derived was that Pérez had some ideas, but no plan. The notion that he was constructing an organised work of taurine art was completely absent. He had to do something to stop this drift downwards. He resorted to manoletinas. They are awful in any circumstances; in desperation, they wrench at the gut. The novillo eventually died from two pinchazos and an estocada.

The early phases to the third novillo, a Fuente Ymbro, were chaotic. The suerte de varas had only one substantive pic. Then, Pérez gave us a treat with a series of close chicuelinas, beautifully executed but spoiled at the end with a foolish and ineffectual stare upwards to the tendidos. Who can he have seen doing that? There was another high point when Iván García placed two perfect pairs of sticks. The animal was still strong, and Pérez challenged it from a distance. These long, straight-line pases can create a degree of drama. It is lost, as it was with this novillo, if the lure is caught. The novillo was developing a tendency to hook inwards toward the body so the pases inevitably became distant. It was not that which caused the final silence, but the pinchazo, the descabello and the other descabello. Things were getting desperate.

What can one do half-way through a corrida when things are on a downward slide? Go to la portagayola. For any torero it is a gesture requiring great courage and self-confidence. It must be even more so for a lad who has not done it often, is having a poor afternoon and is lost as to how to stop that slide. The larga was well-performed, the chase after the fleeing bull ugly and unfortunate. This wild fellow was strong; Marco raised hopes in a couple of perfectly-formed chicuelinas. but misfortune struck again when he lost the bull in what descended into a shambolic quite. Marco Pérez was a ray of sunlight at the start of his faena. The estatuarios were linear, but they were masterpieces of positioning and movement. The naturales, trincherazos and chest pases with which he proceeded, the bull’s muzzle stroking the ground, combined into a session of true and technically inventive toreo. The novillo’s willingness to put its head down soon disappeared and, though Marco tried and squeezed the odd pleasing pass from it, the novillo had taken charge of the arena. It was neither toreado nor dominated as the aviso sounded and the reward shrunk to an ovation. Another trip to la portagayola was called for!

The larga was precisely executed: the positioning of the novillo before the horse was not. The animal took two firm pics, and Pérez made a quite of five gaoneras and a recorte, all close and controlled, that would have helped illustrate a book on taurine theory. Of all the so near but yet so far work we saw this afternoon, it was this faena that came nearest to being a planned and constructed work of true toreo. The first half was convincing: it started with derechazos and pases de espaldas, linear but stoically stationary; smooth and complete right- and left-hand series of closely linked pases – wonderful stuff. Unfortunately, the rapport between boy and novillo atrophied and the second half of the promising faena became a wild attempt to control an increasingly wild animal. The cloth was caught and the novillero was caught; he flew feet over the novillo’s back in a spectacular parabola. His courage and persistence came into play towards the end in a couple of surprisingly calm series. Had he killed well, he might have won an ear and a crumb of comfort. He needed a pinchazo, a media estocada and two descabellos. In a silly demonstration of immaturity, he ignored the silence that was turning into opprobrium and took a vuelta al ruedo. He got his handclaps – they were of the tango type that ring out so clearly from 6, 7 and 8.

Marco took the well-trodden path to the bull pen gate once more. This time, the novillo nearly caught him. Once he had caught up with it, he briefly took control in some delantales. The animal was not placed before the horse for two light pics, and the banderillas, though well placed, were but a light relief. The derechazos de rodillas were clearly meant to stir some emotions: they failed. The faena, such as it was, comprised pegged pases interspersed with trots to new cite positions. The pases were pleasing enough; the trots were tedious. It seemed to me that we were watching a boy who had never had a plan and had run out of ideas for actions to make us think he had. It eventually came to an end, about three minutes after it should have done, and we reached the greatest irony of all: Marco Pérez, who had given us seven pinchazos, one media estocada, six estocadas, four descabellos, four silences, one insufficient petition, one self-awarded vuelta, threw himself over the horns of his last novillo and placed an estocada tendida that only needed two descabellos.

1 June: Six bulls of El Parralejo for Miguel Ángel Perera, Fernando Adrián and Tomás Rufo

El Parralejo are pure Jandilla which, to my reckoning, is as near to pure Domecq as can be found. Miguel Ángel Perera had hard luck, again, in the draw. His first was weak and cowardly to an extent that hid its inherent nobility. It was soon buckling its forelegs and pawing the ground. The only shaft of light in the first two acts was a quite of saltilleras and a huge revolera from Perera. He did not waste much time trying to create a faena; there were a few pases regulares and an estocada entera from a good entry. The fourth bull was not much stronger than the first, but Miguel Ángel did show a kind of listless willingness to make something of it. Unfortunately, his effort was made so far from the bull that there was no transmission between torero, bull or audience. For a time, they were treated with silence, but that could not last. Some high flaps with the left hand generated the inevitable slow handclaps and even the serene but distant naturales near the end were insufficient to silence them. He killed with a vertical estocada for which he did not even attempt to bring the lure down and across but merely pushed it at the bull’s nose.

Fernando Adrián welcomed his first bull with four verónicas and a generous revolera. There was a scary moment when Adrián slipped in front of the toro. There were no consequences. The bull did not like the banderillas, and it was soon clear that the faena omened to be a lacklustre affair. Despite several series of complete, serene and templados pases with each hand, there was no transmission and little response from the audience. By the prompt ending, the bull was falling in mid pase, and Adrián soon chose to kill – it was with a media estocada tendida. He won a cheer. The fifth bull took a couple of firm pics and cooperated in banderillas. Why Adrián needed to be so frantic in his actions was not clear, but his opening derechazos de rodillas were as manic as they were copious. Perhaps it was the bull’s tendency to raise its head that kept Adrián well distant from the horns and always ready to dodge out of the way. It was soon clear that the best he could do was peg single pases, something he did with a will for a very long time. He killed with a vertical estocada just on the aviso and won his just reward – silence.

Tomás Rufo was as lacking in intent as had been his companions. He welcomed his first with some dancing verónicas, and it behaved like a toro bravo in two well-taken pics and a tercio de banderillas in which Andrés Revuelta and Fernando Sánchez were brilliant. Then it was off into another of those faenas full of single pases and lengthy paseos; distant lateral positioning and pases enganchados, the whole ended with the kind of tight arrimón designed to enthuse the crowd and which is hated by the majority in Ventas. He killed with a media estocada vertical, two pinchazos, another media vertical and a descabello.

The first few welcoming verónicas to the sixth bull were compact, templadas and very natural. But soon the cape was being caught by the horns, and the bull was sliding all over the place on rubber knees. That may have contributed to the fact that Espartaco missed the animal completely with his first attempt at a pic. Order was restored for a while and, yet again, Rufo’s boys produced a great tercio de banderillas. I have seen some great faenas at the boards of Tendido 5. They took place there because it’s where the wind tends to be gentler. Rufo was toreando with scarcely a breath of wind; he went there to try some pueblerina antics in front of what he thought was an impressionable Sol public. He was bumped by the bull in his first series of pases de rodillas and lost his lure in the second. Fortunately, he then got more serious. He built a faena of closely-linked right and left-handed pases that were rounded and relaxed and gradually brought the bull under control. It was not the best of Rufo, but it was mighty pleasing. He placed a pinchazo before the estocada and turned the reward of an ear into an ovation.

It seemed to me that we had watched a kind of dream corrida in which two young matadors could have performed much better toreo with at least three of the bulls.

2 June: Six bulls of José Escolar for Esaú Fernández, Gómez del Pilar and Miguel de Pablo

It was nice to have a change from a procession of docile domecqs. Needless, perhaps, to say, only around 75% of the seats were taken.

The first bull, 603 kilos in weight, was hesitant as it entered and Esaú Fernández encouraged it with some mobile verónicas, covering ground. It leaned on a couple of pics, the first parallel to the peto, and complied in banderillas. The wind was dreadful and the bull slow-moving. Fortunately, Esaú noticed that it would charge when cited on the left and made a brief faena of short, linked series of naturales. He had made the best of the bull and killed with a three-quarters sword and a perfect descabello. The smiling matador made his way to la portagayola to greet his second bull. His larga was a success and his animal brave in the varas and the banderillas. His opening derechazos were rushed, but they were forced to be so by the speed of the bull, and they were clean and templados. Things improved when he went to the left hand, and he used the bull’s honesty on that side to produce series of naturales ending in chest pases. The final series, with its trincherillas and concluding chest pase, was exemplary. Had he not opted for far too many bernadinas, he might have killed well. But he went on for far too long with pases frowned upon in Las Ventas. He entered directly to place an impressive estocada, but needed three descabellos to lose the approval of the public he had tried to please and to whom he had dedicated the bull.

‘Castellano ll’, in second place, was a beautiful albaserrada and Gómez del Pilar welcomed it with a clean and classical series of verónicas; the concluding recorte was precise and masterful. Del Pilar repeated it after the first light pic and, after the second, made the quite with chicuelinas that were close, slow and perfectly formed. By the time the faena started, the bull was drawing back from the cites and pawing the sand. There was one series of derechazos that was almost linked, but mostly the bull would only wander through flaps of the muleta in which it showed little interest. The event ended with two pinchazos and an estocada. He did try hard, but reached the aviso in silence. ‘Calentito’ was another beautiful bull, its beauty accentuated by its weight of 656 kilos. Gómez del Pilar is no stranger to large, demanding bulls and, when he meets a noble one, he is in his element. He welcomed this one with quiet, testing, verónicas. It charged from afar in three varas for which it was properly placed by the matador and helped the banderilleros to satisfying suertes. Gómez captured his bull’s attention from the start with close, low and perfectly-adjusted doblones. Vertical, he continued to show his authority in close derechazos and naturales. The bull was by no means predictable; it tended to hook upwards, but del Pilar was always one step ahead of its intentions and the series of naturales swelled upwards in density and beauty. He was extremely careful in the alignment and the aviso sounded. He placed a three-quarters sword, and his bull resisted death in an impressive struggle. The fact that la Fiesta Brava is not dead yet was celebrated with an ear for the matador and public congratulations for the ganadero.

I hate to admit it, but I had never seen or heard of Miguel de Pablo in my life. He is from Colmenar Viejo, is 32 years old, took the alternativa in 2019, has performed seldom and usually with toros duros. His welcoming verónicas were positive and clean and the bull went to the horse with force from well-chosen positions. Pascual Mellinas and Juan Navarro placed a couple of pleasing pairs. And that, essentially, was that. The bull did a somersault on exit from the first pase with the muleta, the wind blew as if it was blowing its last, and de Pablo was apparently lost as to what to do. He tried some pases with each hand, but they were flaps of the muleta rather than authentic pases, and soon gave up. His task had not been easy; he might just have given it a little more effort. At least Miguel set up another proper suerte de varas with the sixth bull - four proper placements en suerte in one corrida is a miracle, even in Madrid. The faena was scarcely under way when it became clear that Miguel could not cope. There were some naturales despegados and even at a distance the bull caught the lure. He made an error in mid pase in one series and suffered a frightening flight above the toro’s back. He survived and killed the bull promptly. It had been a brief sojourn in the big time.

3 June: Six bulls of Toros de Lagunajanda for Manuel Escribano, Joselito Adame and Alejandro Peñaranda (who confirmed his alternativa)

We approached the last corrida of our 2025 San Isidro with a degree of expectation. It is 23 years since we first saw that smiling swashbuckler from Gerena, Manuel Escribano, whose style and smile have not changed since that morning novillada in July ‘02 in Villeneuve de Marsan when he and Fernando Crúz made the main gate together; the happy, hat-hurling hydrocálido Joselito Adame; and the more sober young man from Iniesta for whom it is always worthwhile to switch on the television. There was no reason to believe the domecqs of Lagunajanda would not give good play.

Peñaranda was desperate to succeed in his confirmation and the tremendous mobility and speed of the 545 kilo ‘Vinatero’, a cinqueño like the rest, allowed him to go on for far too long. His early verónicas were close and templadas and the bull, well placed before the horse, was committed en varas. Escribano did a lot of running as he performed his quite of delantales, but they were pleasing when they came. The bull behaved strangely. Despite its initial power and mobility, it was sparingly committed to the lure. So Peñaranda had to work hard to keep it engaged. He did so admirably, positioning himself frontally for the cites and drawing the bull round in series after series of linked and templados naturales and derechazos. It was discreet work, but what the bull required. However, no bull requires a tedious farewell of manoletina after manoletina and a ticket to the other world written on an estocada tendida and five descabellos.

Escribano’s first was strong and mobile when it entered, which allowed it to unhorse the picador in the first vara and take a second nobly. Adame entered the scene with a lovely quite of chicuelinas, ended with a generous and memorable revolera. Escribano may be relied upon to place the banderillas. There’s no guarantee that, after his quarter of a century practising placements, they will reflect the advice in the textbooks. A king of the cuarteo and willing, now and then, to use interesting terrains, he can be educative to watch, but it is the study of his preparation and approach rather than the accuracy of his placements that interest. The animal was not subdued after his three huge cuarteos; when he tried to dedicate the bull, it escaped its minders and chased him along the barrera. As the faena unfolded, it was in casually-administered orthodox pases to a bellowing toro. The words ”casual”, “careless”, and “slovenly” appear in my notes. Maybe I was exaggerating – but I do not think so! There was no doubt about the bajonazo before the final estocada.

Escribano was off to the portagayola to welcome the fourth. His larga was a success and the verónicas that followed kept the bull focussed on the lure. The charges to the horse were from an exciting distance, but the bull left the varas quickly. This time, we were to have the Escribano banderillas show in all its variety and excitement: a cuarteo right por afuera; a pair al violín al quiebro, inches from the barrera; and a cuarteo off the estribo. No wonder he had the public on its feet. It was all downhill from there. The bull kept moving, but unpredictably. The early pases of estatuarios and de espaldas, cited from a distance and the tension tightening with the positive charges, were popular, but the bull increasingly demonstrated its mansedumbre; the single pases, each one well-formed, merely proved that Escribano was whipping a dead horse. He sealed his afternoon with an estocada tendida and won a few handclaps.

As one watches a corrida live, one misses details to which the commentators draw attention or one discovers in the press later. Apparently, Adame’s capote de paseo today was embroidered with the words “Vive Libre”, the motto of those who defend tauromaquia in Mexico. The Governor of Aguascalientes was in a barrera, and Adame dedicated the death of the fifth bull to her. These things were good to hear for an aficionado who loves Aguascalientes and Mexico. All that stood out from the first two acts with the third bull were the chicuelinas and a revolera with which Adame made a quite. He spoiled my fun by carefully placing his montera on the ground rather than sending it up towards the andanada in the dedication. The faena was a hopeless mixture. It did contain snatches of authentic toreo in series of right and left-handed pases, but they were expedient rather than planned. Sometimes, he tried to dominate the toro with formal, calculated pases; at others, his toreo was linear and distant. It all ended with an attempt to receive the bull, a pinchazo a volapié, a media in the side and two descabellos.

The fifth bull was welcomed with a series of verónicas that were much more formal and planned than anything we saw in the third. Though the bull fell after one pic, it did charge well during the suerte de varas and allowed three pairs of well-placed sticks. Adame gave the impression that he wanted to create a complete faena that would prepare the bull properly for the kill. He largely succeeded, by producing workmanlike rather than spectacular pases in linked series. Perhaps it was the fact that by now two hours had passed, or that expectations had scarcely been met, or for some other reason, that his work transmitted little. He had done a functional faena, he aligned the bull well and placed an estocada. The Madrid silence speaks volumes.

*Alejandro Peñaranda (Image from Plaza1)*

A long time had passed before the sixth bull arrived and we had seen many things more likely to cause ennui than impart education. The sixth entered and at first gave the impression that it was a large, handsome, invalid. It limped slightly. It braked readily. There was a pic down its side, one well-taken from a well-calculated placement and a third in which the picador rode his horse over the lines. It was still windy, so the fact that Peñaranda was able to templar his early pases was meritorious. The bull came up as the faena developed, and, had it charged with more commitment, we may have seen a memorable faena. As it was, Peñaranda was cool, calculating and efficient. There were several series of pure taurine pases with each hand which overcame the wind, encouraged the bull into long charges and led to a crescendo of low, tight, doblones filled with torería. We did not get what we had hoped for. What we did get was very satisfying. His entry to kill was direct and the sword. sank to the hilt.

We had attended better Ferias de San Isidro. We had also attended less-pleasing ones. We had seen some good things and found yet again that, for us at least, it is impossible to have a bad time in Madrid.

Reporting on San Isidro’s second half

Jock Richardson

Who was the true San Isidro triunfador?

Vicente Barrera & Alberto Donaire return to Valencia