The view from the sofa - my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV
Miura
Bulls for Javier Castaño, Luís Bolívar & Esau Fernandez
The feria ended today
with the always intriguing Miuras. If only for their stunning presence, it is a
pleasure to see a string of Miuras. Their behaviour in the ring, however, is unpredictable.
There are noble Miuras, dangerous Miuras and even bland ones; such variety is
welcome.
Luís Bolívar cut the
last ear of the feria. It was off the second bull, one of the two decent Miuras
lidiados today. Bolívar was able to take advantage of its repetitive charge to
structure his faena around a number of vibrant and well linked series of
derechazos. The passes were not always clean, and his toreo en redondo came
across as slightly mechanical. There was also some pleasing toreo al natural,
although, given the numerous enganchones and the poor timing displayed with
this hand, the series on the left horn were more inconsistent. However, we
should judge Luís in the context that he opponent was a Miura and, bearing this
in mind, it was a good faena. Bolívar
finished his faena with some molinetes on his knees in an attempt to ignite the
crowd. The estocada was accompanied by a spectacular voletreta, from which
Bolívar was fortunate to escape unscathed. Nevertheless, the emotion created by
the tossing no doubt helped him secure the ear that was awarded following an
almost unanimous petition.
Bolivar’s second bull
was a striking looking salinero bull. It did not give away any charges, but had
a level of mobility and vigour that allowed Bolívar to build a faena. It also repeated
its charges, a quality that Bolívar exploited in order to perform several nicely
linked series en redondo with both hands, although the bull charged better on
the right side. The bull lacked the classy charge that would have allowed a
well-rounded faena, but the fact that it kept measuring Bolívar during each
pass gave the work an emotive edge. This
was a tough bull to square up for the kill, leading to an ineffective estocada
al encuentro – a surer sword thrust might have led to a petition for an ear.
Javier Castaño’s lot
both shared the unfortunate handicap of weakness. The first bull had a classy
charge on is left side that Castaño used to execute a couple of admirable
series of naturales. His right horn was poorer, Castaño was therefore correct
in limiting his interventions on this side as a token attempt to showcase the
bull’s difficulty. A pity that the bull was not even just slightly stronger. Given
his weakness, however, the faena was always teetering on the brink between taking
flight into an emotive work and falling into the abyss of mediocrity. Just when
it seemed that the faena would dissipate into nothing, Castaño resorted to a
series of spectacular passes with the reverse of his right hand, concluded with
a chest pass on his knees.
His second bull shared
his first’s weakness, but lacked its quality. The bull was always looking for
its prey and never charged through the pass; he would stop half way and look
for Castaño. Javier did well to perform some clean half passes, however, this
defensive toreo was never going to truly move the crowd. As is the case with
modern faenas, it lasted some five minutes too long; once the torero confirms
that the bull is impossible he should machetear and kill, not hang around
aimlessly trying to strike an improbable jackpot.
One of the pleasures of
seeing Castaño on the bill is being able to enjoy his wonderful cuadrilla. Unfortunately,
David Adalid is still convalescing from a recent cornada. Nevertheless,
Fernando Sánchez executed two measured, artistic and risky pairs of
banderillas.
The final bull of the
feria had a vigorous and noble. Esau Fernández gave him some distance and
executed some admirable series of derechazos. They were well linked, but
perhaps executed a tad briskly and with a superficial manner. However, given
the bull’s provenance and the torero’s lack of experience, the faena was enjoyable.
He peppered his fundamental toreo with some chest passes on his knees. The performance
lost some momentum when he took the left hand; the charge was equally vibrant,
but Esau was unable to link the passes as he had done with the right hand. Back
on derechazos, the bull kept on charging and Fernández kept on toreando. It was
an effervescent and jovial faena (no mean feat considering this was a Miura)
that would have earned the young matador an ear had he not necessitated
numerous pinchazos to kill the bull.
Esau first bull posed
difficulty through a lack of casta and commitment. Esau tried to perform meaningful
toreo, but with such raw material, it was impossible.
It is just to highlight
Curro Robles’ two pair of banderillas to this sixth bull. His banderillas were
more spectacular than artistic, relying on his physical ability rather than
style to create emotion.
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