Two new ganaderías for the figuras
The hierros of El Freixo (left) and Álvaro Núñez
It has for some time been a complaint of empresas (and aficionados too) that, when putting carteles together, the figuras all want to appear with the same ganaderías, those reckoned to be virtual guarantees of success - in no particular order, Victoriano del Río, Núñez del Cuvillo, Juan Pedro Domecq, Domingo Hernández or Garcigrande. Now, however, two newish ganaderías look set to join that list - El Freixo and Álvaro Núñez.
El Freixo
El Freixo is the ganadería of matador Julián López El Juli. He first began breeding fighting bulls in 2003, when the 23-year-old established Toros de Táliga (named after the valley near Olivenza where his ranch is based), which comprised animals with Gallardo and Atanasio blood. However, four years later, Julián got rid of those bulls, brought in Domecq animals from his two favourite ganaderías, Daniel Ruiz and Garcigrande, and changed the name of his herd to El Freixo.
From 2010 to 2015, El Freixo lotes were sent to novilladas con picadores, but the first complete string for a corrida de toros didn’t appear until May 28 2016 at Granada, when Alberto López Simón cut an ear from each of his bulls and Andrés Roca Rey (substituting for Morante de la Puebla) and El Juli himself cut a single ear apiece.
Thereafter, individual bulls appeared in corridas, including at Bayonne and Arles in France and Alicante, Gijón and Algeciras in Spain, but the next whole corrida of El Freixo bulls didn’t take place until last year, when, on June 2, Ginés Marín cut three ears, Roca Rey two and Juan Ortega one at Aranjuez. This was El Freixo’s only complete corrida of 2024, although another highlight in the ganadería’s temporada was the indulto of ‘Rebujino’ by Tomás Rufo in a corrida of different hierros at Talavera de la Reina on September 21.
An El Freixo bull (Image from elfreixo.com)
This year, two El Freixo corridas have taken place. The first was the notorious festejo at Marbella on June 14, when no less than three bulls were indultado. In my report at the time (‘Indultitis breaks out at Marbella’), I said that “All three of the bulls that left the arena alive showed a fixity on the cloth, but, in doing so, transmitted all the danger of a domesticated dog.” Nevertheless, this type of bull is attractive to the figuras and, on this occasion, Manzanares, Talavante and Fortes all enjoyed a triumphal salida a hombros after a total of 11 ears and three tails were won. The corrida had broader impact too as it was televised live by Canal Sur.
The second corrida, at Dax on August 16, was another very successful affair, Miguel Ángel Perera, Daniel Luque and Borja Jiménez cutting three ears apiece and leaving the plaza on shoulders along with the El Freixo mayoral. The third bull was given a vuelta en arrastre. Mundotoro.com commented, “Corrida muy completa y brava que ofreció un espectáculo muy completo”; Aplausos.com, “La estela de El Juli se agranda en Dax con una brava y categórica corrida”; and cultoro.es, “Tarde para los anales en Dax: éxtasis de Perera, Luque y Borja con un corridón de El Freixo”.
El Juli has commented, “I’m looking for a bull that pleases me - an animal I like to torear. As ganadero, I’m not the person looking for success at the head of the espectáculo, but I like an honest bull with a keen charge; a bull that is perhaps not very common.” It’s unclear at present what number of corridas Julián would ideally like to field in a season, but it’s the case already that he will have no trouble selling his bulls and that the figuras will be lining up to fight them.
Álvaro Núñez
The second ganadería that is capturing the figuras’ attention was formed in 2018 when Álvaro Núñez, the youngest son of Joaquín Núñez del Cuvillo, decided to leave his father’s ganadería after over 30 years’ involvement and set up on his own, using animals from Núñez del Cuvillo and Talavante (the latter being a mix of Núñez del Cuvillo and Garcigrande stock). Initially, the herd was based in Portugal, but it has since been moved to ranches at Chiclana and Tarifa.
His first corrida took place at Zafra on October 1 2022 for Morante de la Puebla, Andrés Roca Rey and Juanito. Roca Rey cut four ears and Juanito three ears and a tail: the third bull, ‘Luminito’, was indultado and the fifth received a vuelta en arrastre, so it was some debut! The following year in Zafra (one of four corridas by the ganadería that season, the others being at Málaga, Córdoba and Jerez), another Álvaro Núñez bull, ‘Cacareo’, was indultado by Alejandro Talavante.
The same number of corridas was fielded in 2024, the plazas including Granada (where five ears were cut), Linares (a poorly presented lote that nevertheless yielded five ears) and Zaragoza (where four ears were won). In the four Álvaro Núñez corridas that have occured to date this year, five ears have been cut at Málaga (plus a vuelta en arrastre), six ears and a tail (and another vuelta) at Jerez, six ears at Granada and four ears at the ranch’s debut at Pamplona. There are two more corridas to come, one in Arles and the other at Lorca.
Álvaro Núñez bulls at Málaga (Image from torosenelmundo.com)
Just like El Juli, Álvaro Núñez aims to breed bulls with which bullfighters can attain the toreo they dream of. He has commented, “I look for a bull with the person standing in front of it in mind. I’m a total torerista, and my feelings are for the torero. A bull that charges well is like the torero who performs well - very difficult to achieve.” During his ganadería’s relatively short time of providing corridas, his bulls have been fought by the likes of Morante, Roca Rey, Talavante, Manzanares, Castella, Perera, Luque, Rufo and de Justo, and the track record that his bulls are establishing points to Álvaro Núñez having several more afternoons with the figuras in future.