Santander, July 22: Watch out! There’s a serious person in the plaza!
Víctor Hernández
José Antonio Morante de la Puebla, as 2026 is evidencing, has reached mythical status, with nothing left to prove. Any viewing of him is an occasion, whether it is simply a few lances or muletazos or flashes of his unique toreo that give pleasure, or complete faenas or (increasingly rarely, these days) broncas for unfulfilled expectations. Today was the first of his two appearances in Santander’s feria (making up for last year’s fiasco when an offer by the matador to make a second appearance and donate his earnings to local charities was turned down), both of them sold out.
His initial Ventana del Puerto bull got the blame for a disappointing opening performance by the maestro. There were some beautifully sculptured verónicas to begin with, although Morante lost the cape to the bull in a closing larga, the animal moving on to the picador with cape attached and its stumbling condition apparent once removed from the horse. There was no brindis at the start of the faena and Morante produced derechazos and pases ayudados and little more, losing the lure once again when he attempted naturales, and the bull adding nothing to the obra. After a pinchazo and estocada, there were whistles for the bull and silence for the matador.
Despite being the only one of today’s matadors to fail to win an ear, Morante de la Puebla created many fine moments
The bulls this Feria de Santiago have been largely a disgrace, both in appearance and performance. Morante’s second animal, carrying the Puerto de San Lorenzo brand, was certainly a disgrace in the former category, looking like a novillo and, at 437 kilos, just two kilos above the minimum weight for this plaza. Protests duly rang out, but in vain, while Morante restricted his capework to some semi-walking chicuelinas taking the bull to the picador. The animal did, however, accompany Morante well during the faena, the spectators being treated to one that, in the beauty and closeness of many of its pases, overcame the bull’s tendency to paw the ground and its reluctance to come forward. There was a superb sequence of two-handed pases por altos before Morante delivered a fine estocada. A majority petition followed, but the president opted to ignore it.
Juan Ortega is not an ambitious torero, being content to wait for a bull to come along that suits him and his artistic toreo. His opening Ventana del Puerto bull met this category, Juan greeting it with half-kneeling lances before giving a couple of verónicas. As is common in this feria, there was just the one charge to the picador, although the bull did manage to lift the horse twice. After some splendid banderillas from his cuadrilla, Ortega dedicated the faena to those spectating and embarked upon series of excellent derechazos and naturales, executed with temple and turning the bull. Towards the faena’s end, there was an amazing sequence of four or five linked arrucinas, performed almost as adornos rather than pases. Ortega killed well and won an ear, while the bull was taken out to applause.
Juan Ortega (above, in a verónica, and below, in an arrucina) was on good form with his first bull
In contrast, after a promising quite of chicuelinas, executed very slowly, and a media verónica, Juan failed to get to grips with his second animal during its faena. The matador was constantly on the move; some of the muletazos were quite pretty, but that movement portrayed a lack of total control over the lidia. The bull hit the ground rapidly after Ortega’s estocada, making it impossible to judge the sword placement, but there was silence at the end while the bull received some whistles en arrastre.
Víctor Hernández set out to make a point - and succeeded
So much for today’s entertainers…. Now, Santander spectators can be quite festive - this year, perhaps, more so than usual - and it’s not unusual here for a cockerel to be thrown into the ring during a matador’s vuelta, as occurred today after Juan Ortega’s first bull. Usually, after some effort, the bird is captured by a cuadrilla member and handed over to the matador. On this occasion, though, whether on purpose or not, that did not happen - the bird disappeared for a while into the callejón, then reappeared in the ring as Víctor Hernández was about to embark on a quite of saltilleras to his first bull. He briefly looked across at the cockerel and decided to carry on. His reminder to the whole plaza that toreo is a serious business carried on into the faena (the cockerel staying in the ring throughout). Dedicated to the public, Hernández’s work was extraordinary, built on exquisite series of linked passes, classic toreo with no frills until he performed a series - seemingly endless - of linked luquesinas. During his closing and close tanda of manoletinas, Víctor was caught and thrown in a very similar cogida to Navalón’s, but emerged apparently uninjured. A strong estocada was followed by an effective descabello, an aviso too. There was a mass petition for a second ear after the president awarded one, but the mules took a long time to reach the dead bull, and, if the president’s plan was to award a second at the last minute, by the time that had been reached, the petitioning had stopped. No matter - Víctor Hernández takes things seriously, has every intention of becoming a figura, and the other toreros better look out.
His other bull - the second of the three Puerto de San Lorenzo bulls to be complained of for its anovillado appearance - was a wayward beast and spent the faena hooking during passes and looking for the matador. Attempting a puerta grande ending, Víctor tried hard to make the faena a success, but a pinchazo and estocada put paid to his hopes for a further award. The bull was dragged out to pitos, while Víctor’s efforts led to an ovation and saludos.