The view from the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I
have watched on TV.
El Pilar bulls for Juan José
Padilla, José María Manzanares and
Miguel Ángel Perera.
This is arguably the star cartel
of the feria and , as such, one of the first corridas to sell out. Juan José Padilla is appearing
as warm up act. I understand that the figuras have always asked for “uno por
delante”, but it does not make it any less frustrating for the aficionado. With
all due respect, I am not looking forward to seeing Padilla today – I greatly
value his tauromaquia and respect his career path. In the correct context, I
also enjoy his toreo. However, Las Ventas is not the ideal place to enjoy the
Padilla show, he sobers and dilutes his toreo to little effect.
Manzanares knows
that the certain sections of Madrid’s crowd do not like him, and the usual
suspects will no doubt jeer his performance. He has therefore taken the conservative
decision to only appear once – it is a pity. The premier feria should be the
showcase for the cream of the escalafón (like or dislike his toreo, Manzanares is an undoubtedly a leading torero), while also giving lesser profile
toreros an opportunity that is not afforded to them in the shorter provincial
ferias. For some years the balance between the former and the latter has tilted
too far in favour of the latter;
Manzanares’ decision compounds this imbalance (Morante and Ponce are another two toreros who should have opted to
play a greater part in this feria).
Perera is making his second appearance of San Isidro. Last season's
triumphant torero, he is one of the cornerstones of this year’s feria – as it
should be, he is a figura and must validate this status in Las Ventas (he, like the rest of the G4, should have also validated themselves in Sevilla, but that is another story). His
first corrida was a disappointment, with Perera being greatly affected by the strong wind, however, he gave the impression of being
slightly below the level required of his lot of Parladés. Let us hope he can
remedy this today.
As is customary in him, Padilla
was active in the early tercios with his first bull. An attempted quite by
tafalleras ended with an untidy enganche and with the banderillas Padilla was
correct and dominant over the bull’s powerful charge. With the muleta, Padilla
seemingly suffocated the bull’s vivacity by undertaking the faena at a short
distance. His faena highlighted the bull’s nobility, but also its lacke of vigour. Perhaps,
by giving it more distance to charge he might have been able to use the
animal's momentum to craft a series of muletazos. The faena ended with an unsavoury series of
media estocadas and descabellos.
Padilla gave his second bull
distance, but unfortunately it did not have the strength to withstand toreo en
redondo. Slightly better timing might have helped it stay on its feet, but
Padilla is not known for precise, calm and templado toreo. He did not palce
banderillas to this bull, perhaps an indication that he is not entirely
confortable in Madrid – Padilla needs give free rein to his tremendista streak,
and I feel he never completely abandons himself to this toreo in Madrid.
The second El Pilar bull broke a
horn during the pics and was replaced by a Charo de Llen animal - rumour has it that the bull had been selected by Perera's team. Manzanares began the lidia with four
tight and stirring veronicas, Manzanares successfully working with the bull's nervy and uncomfortable charge. With the muleta Manzanares constructed a pleasing faena based on the right side,
there was the token series on the left - naturales are not José Mari’s forte and
he rarely gives us more than the odd series on the left side. The bull had an
ungainly charge, but it was mobile and followed the lures. Manzanares gave the bull distance for the first pass of the series
and used the bull’s movement to sew together another three derechazos. It was a
typical Manzanares faena and, as
such, split the crowd, just as he splits opinion. In his favour is always his
elegant manner and the ease with which he can link passes with the right hand.
Against him, the short series and the superficial nature of his toreo. The faena was pleasant but I felt he could have been more emphatic with the bull.
Uncharacteristically, for him, Manzanres
was poor with the sword.
Manzanares also
greeted his second bull into the ring with some pleasing, if inconsistent,
veronicas. The faena began with a scare; Manzanares
mistimed an estatuario and the bull went for the man rather than the cloth.
The bull was noble and classy, but lacked some motor. José Mari began with a
couple of clean series on the right side, but the animal seemed to be
running out of gas. On the left side Manzanares
managed to lift the faena once again, it may not be his strong point, but the
second series al natural was made of long, clean passes and nicely linked. The
rest of the faena was built on more clean, elegant toreo en redondo, greeted
with oles from most of the crowd. The
effective estocada served to secure the first, and only, ear of the afternoon.
Perera faced a dull lot of bulls.
His first bull was classless and lacking in emotion. Its charge was listless
and languid, Perera gave some slow passes, but the bull conveyed not vigour. A
putrid animal that, to make matters worse, was also tricky and difficult. It gave
Miguel Ángel no opportunity whatsoever to torear well. His final bull was not
much better. Perera’s afternoon passed without anything of note. After
his absence from Sevilla, he needs to lay a marker in his last corrida of the
feria, a mano a mano with El Juli for
the Corrida de Beneficencia.
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