Jandilla bulls for Sebastián Castella, Miguel Ángel Perera & Iván
Fandiño.
Pamplona is the Feria
del Toro. Its unique selling point is the spectacular presentation of the
bulls, rather than the toreros who face them. The cartels are generally
constructed around toros and ganaderías that interest the aficionado, and
toreros that inspire less confidence. However, there are always a couple of
corridas which include the figuras and other top toreros; yesterday was one of
those days. Sebastián Castella, the brave Frenchman who I saw perform well in
Algeciras a few weeks back, Miguel Ángel Perera, arguably the leading torero of
2014 and Iván Fandiño, a torero that continues his upward curve towards figura
status.
The first bull of the
afternoon was noble, but weak, thereby inhibiting his charge somewhat. Castella
began with soft doblones that did not suit the bull’s fragile condition. He
then opted, correctly, to take the bull to the centre of the ring and began to
torear in redondo with his right hand.
The four series that followed were good, but lacked emotion due to the
bull’s weakness, it lacked the strength to add profoundness to its nobility.
Nevertheless, Castella linked his passes well, gaining a step between pass
where necessary and staying completely still when possible. When he took the
left hand the bull was nearly finished and its charge was very short; despite
these inconveniences he performed a couple of meritorious naturales. The
possibility of an ear was lost through poor sword work.
Castella drew another
noble but weak bull in fourth. It had a classier charge and allowed Castella to
paint some excellent individual derechazos. However, it run out of gas after a
couple of series and prevented Sebastián from completing his performance. On
the face of it, Castella seemingly had the best lot from a torero’s
perspective; they were both noble and allowed the torero to be comfortable.
However, these qualities are deceptive. Unless the class is accompanied by a
mobile and profound charge, these bulls allow the torero to be comfortable, but
they do not lend themselves to great faenas. A torero like Castellla needs some
more punch in his bulls.
For great faenas you
need bulls like Perera’s first, it had great mobility and an edge of temper.
Miguel Ángel had the best medicine for these symptoms, a low dominant muleta
good timing. After two testing series with the right hand, by the third, Perera
had him dominated and performed some excellent toreo en redondo. The bull’s
mobility shone through, and Perera had tempered its anger; the toreo was truly vibrant.
The jandilla was harder to dominate
with the left hand and the faena lost some momentum. Not to worry, Perera took the right hand again
and built the faena to a crescendo. The bull saw nothing but muleta as the
torero spun him round his body in an assured fashion. It was easy to forget
that the bull had a core of dangerous casta and he was ready to pounce on any
mistake. To reinforce his utter dominance, Perera concluded with simply
outstanding figure of eight toreo. After taking the real sword, the faena was
garnished with some smoothly executed manoletinas. The excellent sword thrust
underscored this excellent faena that was unfairly only given one ear. In any
event, I will not allow the palco’s unseemly decision obscure the worth (or my
enjoyment) of this faenón.
His second bull was less
demanding, it was just as noble as Castella’s pair, but with greater mobility
(thereby allowing for significant toreo). Perera opponent lacked an edge of
commitment and kept its head too high to be a truly good bull. Nevertheless, the
torero took advantage of the bull’s positive qualities through his firm
attitude. Miguel Ángel managed to link good series en redondo with his left and
right hand, although each seemed slightly superficial given the bull’s lack of
commitment. However, Perera’s great virtue this afternoon has been his ability
to iron out each bull’s defects in order to make them each charge well by the
end of the faena. Therefore, by the concluding series en redondo, Perera had
succeeded in lowering the bull’s head and was able to conclude with well linked
figure of eight torero and some cleanly executed luquesinas. A pinchazo and an
estocada allowed him to cut the ear to open he puerta grande. An excellent
afternoon from this figurón. Miguel Ángel Perera has consolidated his position
at the top of toreo. Along with El Juli, I think he is called to dominate toreo
for the coming years.
There was nothing doing
with the third bull. It had a difficult and disconcerting charge. Fandiño
managed the odd meaningful pass, but was unable to link two of these together.
He spent a great deal of time in front of the bull without managing to create a
faena; after Perera’s stunning faena to the challenging second bull, this
performance (albeit with a tough bull) was underwhelming and conservative.
The final bull of the
afternoon was disconcerting. It seemed to charge well in spurts, before losing
momentum. I cannot help but think that had Fandiño stood up to the bull, stayed
firm between each pass and kept the muleta in the bull’s face we might have a
seen a good faena. Instead, Fandiño gave a reserved performance, with too many
pauses and a focus on re-positioning himself between each pass. The oreja he
cut was inconsequential, notwithstanding the good sword thrust. Although
Fandiño’s lot was by no means ideal, one cannot help but wonder how the
emphatic Perera would have fared.
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