Juan José Padilla (some jeers and an ear), Sebastián Castella (an ear from each bull) & Iván Fandiño (some claps and silence).
A decent string of Fuente Ymbro bulls laid the foundations for an interesting afternoon of bulls. Small, but acceptably presented given the category of bull ring, they possessed enough quality charges to allow for two very good faenas from Sebastián Castella’s and Padilla’s minor triumph. Castella’s bulls was especially good, a classy first bull and a profound second, who was justifiably awarded a posthumous lap of honour. Ivan Fandiño drew a lot of poor bulls and was only allowed to show snippets of his good toreo.
Let us start with the afternoon’s star, Castella. His first bull’s charges were sweet and smooth. Perhaps not what one might expect from Fuente Ymbro, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Similarly, this is not necessarily the type of charge that would ordinarily suit Castella’s static toreo, nevertheless, Castella adapted his toreo to suit the bull and was able to extract a notable faena. Although I sometimes find Castella’s toreo en redondo lacking, today he performed it beautifully. The key was keeping the muleta in the bull’s face after each pass in order to link the derechazos and construct the series. Each pass was well timed, and long; fundamental toreo that was moving enough to form the substance of a pleasing faena. A nicely executed sword thrust led to a well-earned ear.
The truly important work came with the fifth bull of the afternoon. A very profound Fuente Ymbro whose charges were as classy as Castella’s first, but even longer and marked by greater vigour – had it kept galloping as it did during the first two or three series it might have prompted a petition for an indulto, as it was the lap of honour was a fitting prize. Brave bull this Largapulla.
(Incidentally, the bull was run as a sobrero after the beautiful jabonero title bull broke its leg during the first capotazo and was unable to get back to its feet. Thankfully effective work by the puntillero saved us from this most unpleasant spectacle being overly protracted, however I often wonder why there is not a stun gun in the plaza in order to expeditiously deal with such incidents).
If Castella’s faena was marked by the well executed fundamental toreo, this faena, due to the bull’s extra piquancy, was a perfect blend of his spectacular still toreo, and well executed toreo en redondo. Castella dedicated the bull to the public before greeting it in the centre of ring and executing a series of passes cambiados por la espalda and naturales. After some vibrant series of derechazos, the highlight of the faena were two excellent series of naturales. I often feel that Castella’s toreo en redondo, while performed with stillness, is marked by short passes and mechanical execution. I was happy to note that the naturales were long, smooth and well linked. Once again, the key was ensuring that the muleta was well placed between each pass to ensure the bull was hooked for the next natural. It was truly emotive toreo en redondo. Once the bull’s initial vigour had faded, and after ensuring a correct dose of fundamental toreo, Castella concluded with some spectacular figure of eight toreo. It was not pure encimismo, but rather long figure of eight passes on either horn. Unfortunately, a pinchazo preceded a full sword and reduced the prize to one ear.
I thoroughly enjoyed Castella this afternoon. It was a great performance from an excellent torero, one that reminded us of the virtues that took him to figura status in 2007, and also, allowed me to lament that he has not been as consistent, since then, as we may have wished. Moreover, the most welcome aspect of the afternoon was his toreo en redondo, this marked the difference between good, and great.
The afternoon’s other ear was awarded to Juan José Padilla, who celebrated the twentieth anniversary of his alternativa, after a typical performance of his jovial tremendismo. Padilla may not be to everyone’s taste, his toreo can border on the uncouth, but he is a torero that has faced the toughest and most serious bulls in northern Spain and France and thus deserves my respect. The first two tercios to his second bull were vintage Padilla (make of that what you will): he greeted the bull with two larga cambiadas de rodillas, and once on his feet he performed veronicas, delantales and chicuelinas, it was cyclonic but spectacular. The highlight of the performance was a superb tercio de banderillas. While his toreo de capote was striking rather than profound, his banderillas (especially the first to pairs) were canonical. The first al cuarteo heading from the centre of the ring to the boards, while the second was from the boards to the centre of the ring; both however, were marked by their perfect execution right in front of the bull’s horns. The third pair was al violin, but even so, it was placed with the torero square to the bull. The faena de muleta was practically a non-event. The bull was exhausted and barely had a pass in him; Padilla spent too long trying to get a series en redondo before desisting and concluding with a desplante on his knees. A slowly executed estocada allowed him to cut a deserved ear; although the faena de muleta barely merited an ovation, I feel that his first two tercios merited recognition.
Padilla’s first bull was disconcerting. It was manso, but strong. I would have expected Padilla to seek to create a faean with it, or at least lidiarlo sobre las piernas in order to reduce it for the kill. However, Padilla did neither, he felt he could not perform en redondo and gave some half-hearted chop passes; the bull was not good, but Padilla made no attempt to give it a fitting lidia with the muleta.
Ivan Fandiño faced a couple of poor bulls and was unable to perform anything of note. The odd derechazo to his first bull had class and was to be savoured, but the bull soon stopped charging and an attempt at a faena was futile. The sixth bull was dangerous and allowed Fandiño to showcase his desire and bravery, but little else.
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