01/04/2013 Victorino Martín - Fernando Robleño & Javier Castaño
The final corrida of the feria involved the always intriguing Victorino bulls before two specialists with the encaste: Fernando Robleño and Javier Castaño. Aficionados were no doubt hoping (expecting?) for an explosion of casta. However, the result was a slow burning fire fuelled by the intrigue of the bulls, but lacking the spark to take the corrida to a higher level of brilliance.
Victorino’s string was well presented but without excess; although they looked smaller and leaner than the Cebadas and Torrestrellas (expected given their Saltillo providence) they were comparably heavy. Their performance was slightly more disappointing; there was no truly boring or weak bull, but neither was there one that marked itself as a standout. All had the interest given to them by their casta, but the casta derived into problems rather than being the basis for charges with desire. However, given that casta and nerve are never negative attributes, each bull kept the crowd’s interest throughout its lidia and there were quality charges lurking behind several bulls (especially those run in second and third place).
Javier Castaño’s performance was a showcase of control over the bull at each juncture, as a result, was able to give each animal the lidia that it required. His, and the corrida’s, best faena came to the second bull. Although the bull shared the problems presented by its brothers, it had enough quality to submit some long and profound charges to Castaño’s muleta. A faena in crescendo, better on the right side than the left, it was a pure and emotive work of art based on the fundamental passes – the bull did not allow flowery accompanying passes, and therefore the faena’s worth was based on profound series of derechazos. Foreshadowing the rest of the afternoon, Castaño’s sword was poor and he lost the triumph his muleta work merited.
Javier’s performance with the muleta was solid throughout the afternoon. The fourth and sixth bulls had difficult charges, but his sense of distances and positioning enabled him to extract the most of each one. With bulls such as these it is difficult to perform immobile linked toreo en redondo, however, by adjusting his footing accordingly between each pass he was able to perform suitably flowing and exciting toreo. Had his sword been to the level of his muleta he would have exited the ring on shoulders.
Castaño recgonises the value of the lidia, but is not a torero that shines in all three tercios. He therefore allowed his cuadrilla to star with the pics and banderillas. His picadors ably coped with the bulls being set a distance from the horse, toreando from their horses to attract the bull and meting out the appropriate, not excessive, level of punishment. Furthermore, his banderilleros David Adalid and Fernando Sánchez placed impressive and artistic pairs of banderillas to the second and fourth bulls. Fernando Sánchez provided the aesthetic elegance to the tercio walking, not running, towards the bulls before a short burst immediately prior to executing the pair of banderillas. David Adalid was the powerful alternative to Sanchez and placed his banderillas in varying terrains around the plaza.
Fernando Robleño performed three technically distinct faenas. In order to link passes to his first bull he readjusted his footing in order to cross the line of charge between each derechazo. As the bull’s charge was emotive, had he been able to stay still and link the passes (a feat that is easier written from my study, than performed in the plaza) it would have been an excellent faena. In the end, it was simply meritorious. The faena to his third was the highlight of his afternoon; Robleño managed to unlock the bull’s wonderful left horn and performed a commendable faena based on the left hand. He made the fringe ends of the muleta dance during each natural and only a poor effort with the sword prevented him from securing an ear. The fifth bull was the toughest of Robleño’s lot, he spent more time trying to extract a faena from it that the bull probably deserved, to the extent that it cost him a tossing. The highlight of this bull’s lidia was another superb tercio de varas from Gabin Rehabi (who also starred the previous days with the Cebadas).
As a final observation, while the previous three corridas had been partly characterised by the frequent quites this corrida had none – the bulls’ general condition did not lend itself to elaborate capote work, but rather a different, graver lidia. It did not matter; the fiesta feeds off such variety.
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