Much of the marketing of today’s corrida had centred on the alternativa of Tomás Bastos, set to be Portugal’s 45th matador de toros, but in reality the event was built around Andrés Roca Rey, the real reason why all tickets for the corrida were sold out in advance of the day itself. The cartel was also sadly typical of the Peruvian’s choice of companions these days, toreros offering no real competition to his status. The ganadería of Juan Manuel Criado, new to Santander, was presumably chosen by his camp too. Criado has described his aim as a ganadero as producing animals that give the torero “special sensations. I want whoever stands in front of my bulls to be able to give the bull a personality of its own through their toreo. That can occur in many ways, and there are many types of charge to enable us to reach our final goal, which is that the torero gets excited in front of our animals.”

That certainly occurred with Roca Rey’s first bull, ‘Ermitaño’ - the lightest of the day at 465 kilos - which Andrés took to immediately, executing impressive verónicas en tablas then feet-together chicuelinas and largas in the centre of the ring. An expansive quite followed the bull’s sole vara - gaoneras, a revolera and largas, one of the latter por la espalda. ‘Ermitaño’ continued to charge excellently in what was an extraordinary faena. Roca Rey began with pases por la espalda and estatuarios out in los medios, and followed this with superb series of derechazos and naturales, totally in command, although ‘Ermitaño’ was no docile animal. There was an amazing series of four or five linked, circular, cambios de mano, the bull grazing the matador’s body as it moved round him. Andrés closed with bernadinas and a no-nonsense estocada to win two ears and joined in the applause as ‘Ermitaño’’s carcass was dragged from the plaza.

*… and Andrés Roca Rey during his amazing toreo en redondo with successive cambios de manos*

Unfortunately, that was more or less it as far as the Criado novillos/toros were concerned. The Peruvian’s second bull opted to head for its querencia by the toriles as soon as the matador attempted a quite. With this trickier opponent, it was noticeable how often Andrés was able to get himself out of trouble in the faena. Another fine estocada was followed by an aviso and four attempts to descabellar. MORE

Pablo Aguado duly played a supporting role today. He gave some nice verónicas to his first bull, several lovely tandas in a faena muy sevillana and killed well, but the bull had failed to transmit and it all ended to silence. Things improved slightly with his second animal, greeted with chicuelinas in the style of Morante and verónicas. The bull sat as it met the picador, and later made an unplanned second entry to the reserve horseman. After dedicating to the tendidos, Pablo created a lovely faena, his naturales and pases de cartucho being the highlights. A pinchazo and estocada led to a minority petition. The bull was taken out to silence, while Aguado received an ovation and took saludos.

*Tomás Bastos becomes a matador de toros*

*Two photos of the Portuguese in action with the corrida’s final bull*

Whether or not Tomás Bastos’ toro de alternativa was the result of the sorteo or an agreement amongst today’s matadors I don’t know, but it was a dreadful animal, stumbling from the word go. The president should have sent it back to the corrales, but he did no such thing. However, the crowd were in a mood to be generous to the new matador and went wild over his bog standard, unvaried, faena, delivered with no sense of any communion between man and bull. There were daring bernadinas to finish, the muleta being switched from one side to another, an estocada caída and a descabello, and then a strong, albeit minority, petition for an ear which the president resisted.

The generous ear did emerge, however, after the lidia to the final bull, the president presumably deciding he wanted to send everyone home in a good mood. That bull was a Criado sobrero, the original sixth animal having been replaced after falling in the first tercio (the only replacement of the feria). Now, Tomás produced some excellent half-kneeling, then upright capotazos to a fast-moving bull, followed by a quite of gaoneras (the Portuguese nearly being caught in the first as the bull slid off-balance), a larga and brionesas. The faena was a solid one, again lacking in variety despite a start and finish with half-kneeling muletazos, and Bastos lacking in personality. The pinchazo and estocada were followed by a surprisingly strong petition, and Bastos was able to say he had won an ear on the day of his alternativa. What the future holds for him, though, I wouldn’t like to say.

Santander, July 24: It’s all about Andrés

Santander, July 23: Toros bravos are back in town