Sevilla, May 7: A mature Andrés Roca Rey

Andrés Roca Rey

There was no doubting today’s triunfador, almost from the moment he first began toreando the anovillado bull from Victoriano del Río that came out third. Andrés Roca Rey met the animal with a stunning display of verónicas, chiculelinas, a media verónica and a larga, one lance flowing seamlessly into another. Miguel Ángel Perera added to expectations with a superb quite of gaoneras, while Antonio Chacón was spectacular en banderillas, Daniel Duarte’s cape fortunately preventing a goring. There was a lovely fluid start to the faena, Roca Rey continuing in that vein with stretching derechazos and naturales en redondo, the series closed with superb chest passes and then circulares, everything delivered with calmness and temple. This fascinating, classical even, faena was a long one, an aviso sounding before Andrés managed to deliver a fine estocada despite the bull moving its head as he went in to kill. There was no doubting the two ears awarded to the Peruvian, while the bull was rightly applauded en arrastre.

With the sixth bull, Andrés tried his best to cut a third ear and win an exit through La Maestranza’s Puerta del Príncipe, but it was not to be when his lidia ended with two pinchazos and an estocada. Before that, there had been templadas verónicas and delantales, pases por alto, an early desarme in the faena, cites from a distance, more toreo en redondo and ayudados por alto to close. All in all, today’s performances showed a mature torero at the peak of his form, the best I’ve seen from him.

Miguel Ángel Perera - out of luck again

Miguel Ángel Perera has had an exceptional, but unlucky, Feria de Abril. He produced little capework of note to his first bull, Juan Ortega making up for that with a quite of verónicas and a media, but, after a brindis to a spectating El Juli, the extremeño produced a fine faena. With temple and dominio throughout, Perera brought off excellent series on each hand, before killing well. His bad luck continued, however, for, despite a clear majority petition amongst the spectators, the president refused to award an ear, the matador being persuaded to take a vuelta instead. His other bull was cutting in during the opening capotazos and proved tricky en banderillas. Perera nevetheless dedicated its faena to the tendidos, but there was only one linked series of muletazos, then single passes, Miguel Ángel soon opting to collect the sword and kill with an estocada caida. His memorable Feria de Abril ended with pitos for the bull and he taking saludos from the callejón.

Juan Ortega had one more afternoon of virtually confining his qualities to his capework. His first bull was well-armed but proved soporific en varas and tried to hook away the banderillas that had been placed. In the faena, it soon showed a wish to retreat to the toril. Ortega managed some derechazos con temple before seeming to cut the faena short, only to start up again with naturales beside the barrera. Following the estocada, there were whistles for the bull and silence for its matador.

Juan Ortega

That bull had provided little opportunity for success, but I was not so sure about Ortega’s second one, particularly after it ignored Juan’s citing and charged straight to the picador, and then pushed strongly in the second vara. True, as the faena went on, so the victoriano hooked more and more when exiting passes, causing several enganches, but Juan had opted to start the faena with pretty, stretching, half-kneeling passes when perhaps what the bull would have benefitted from were harsher doblones. There were some single passes of note and a decent estocada, followed by more silence. Ortega has commented that he likes the Sevilla public because they are “prepared to wait for things”, but one wonders how long he can sustain a career when there is only the occasional strong performance.