Thursday 28 May 2015

San Isidro 26/5/2015 - Decimotercera Corrida


The view from the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV.

El Puerto San Lorenzo bulls for Antonio Ferrera, Miguel Abellán and Daniel Luque.

Today’s cartel consisted of veteran toreo, all of whom are capable of good faenas, but none of whom had quite made it to figura status. Antonio Ferrera is looking to build on his Sevilla triumph. He is unlikely to meet a bull as good as Sevilla’s Victorino, but we would like to see the serious and controlled Ferrera, not the rapid, populist toreo that we have often been served. Miguel Abellán completes his feria today, he is carving an autumn for his career on the basis of his capable muleta work, but he needs a triumphant performance to  create momentum this season. Luque starts his feria today. I have always had high hopes for Daniel but he always falls just short of achieving them. Whatever happens, I am almost prepared to guarantee that he will regale us with some excellent capote work at some point in the afternoon.  

Antonio Ferrera placed banderillas to his opening bull in a clean and sober manner. Three controlled, orthodox pairs of banderillas placed across different areas of the plaza for variety. The bull was noble, although its charge lacked vigour and emotion. Ferrera gave a couple of acceptable, clean series en redondo. However, the faena did not ignite the crowd in the slightest; the bull’s charge did not lend itself to emotive toreo. Ferrera cut his faena as soon as he had showed the bull to the crowd and once it was clear that it was pointless persevering with the animal. I applaud his sense of good measure.

The fourth bull charge more powerfully in banderillas giving Ferrera the opportunity to place tighter, more emotive pairs. The third pair, al quiebro, fell somewhat low. The bull lowered its head to the lures with desire but would stay short; it was a tough customer that seemed to weigh the option of taking the lure or the man with each charge. Ferrera performed a long faena which, necessarily, contained some indivudial good, long and dominant passes. Nevertheless, Ferrera could not channel the bull’s difficulties into a complete faena. Antonio’s afternoon was subdued, but his lot did not offer an opportunity for more.  

Abellán’s profound doblones to start his faena de muleta to the second bull served to highlight the class and depth of the bull’s charge – however, the animal did not display great emotion in its charge. Its quality allowed for good toreo, however, the emotion had to be created by the torero. Abellán performed a long and clean faena, giving well linked series with either hand. However, the bull required a level of repose that was not to be found in Abellán’s toreo. He was correct throughout, but the bull was asking to be toreado with greater emotion. The highlight of the faena was the concluding series of naturales a pies juntos, each isolated pass was profound but, because of the nature of the pass, the consecutive muletazos lacked continuity.  The full estocada allowed Miguel to receive an ovation from the tercio. Abellán is a powerful, blood and thunder torero, a delicate bull is perhaps not the most suited to his tauromaquia.

The fifth bull was a lacklustre animal that lent itself to a lacklustre faena. Perhaps another day Abellán might have risked between each pass, left the muleta in the bull’s face in an attempt to link a complete series. However, Miguel was unable to do so and the faena dissipated into nothing. This caps Miguel’s underwhelming Feria de San Isidro. He cut an ear from his first bull of the feria, but since he has faced bulls that might have allowed for more emphatic performances than those which he ultimately delivered.

Daniel Luque had left his calling card with a quite to the second bull. I will not get tired of highlighting his excellence with the capote – after Morante, Luque is the escalafón’s best capotero. Today, he gave us three delicate, silky chicuelinas, capped with a cambio de mano and a low larga that was pure delight. The third bull was a typical Atanasio manso – a loose, noble bull, which had the class to allow for good toreo if only the torero could keep it focussed on the lures. Luque’s faena started with a good, well-linked series of derechazos in the centre of the ring. A profound series, concluded with a long chest pass that allowed the crowd to dream of a good faena. However, the bull immediately became rajado. Although Luque was able to link the odd few passes, the bull was not concentrated on the muleta at all and it spent the rest of the faena seeking is querencia. Luque followed it around the ring, giving isolated quality passes. His sword work was very poor and he therefore exchanged an ovation for some jeers.

The sixth Puerto San Lorenzo bull was returned to the pens for its manifest weakness, I cannot help but think that the crowd’s protests were also a symptom of them being bored after two hours and little toreo. It was replaced by a José Luís Pereda bull, of Nuñez origin that displayed mansedumbre, lack of class and lack of desire over the first two tercios. When it was minded to charge, however, it did so with power, which Abraham Neiro was able to temper into two risky and tight pairs of banderillas.

Luque seemed to have confidence that he could exploit the bull’s emotion (and minimise its difficulties) and dedicated the faena to the public. Daniel dove straight into toreo fundamental in the centre of the ring, with no tester passes, and gave a superficial, but nicely linked series of derechazos. He gave the bull distance, and let the bull charge at the muleta; guiding the bull rather than dominating. As the faena progressed, Daniel sought to impose demanding toreo to the bull – the subsequent series were low and well timed, with the torero teasing the bull though the pass. The bull lost intensity in its charge after three series, so Daniel took the bull to the tercio with a succession of nicely worked low passes naturales and cambiados. He took the bull back out to the centre of the ring for a series of naturales, bu by this stage the bull was tardy and the faena was over. He tried to complete with an arrimón, but the faena was done. Luque’s faena started with intensity, but lost emotion as it progressed. His excellent estocada led to a not insignificant petition; it perhaps needed the faena to be more consistent in order to have led to a prize. Daniel was left to give a merited vuelta al ruedo. Luque’s afternoon was solid, he was above the level of both his bulls, but, once again, fell just short of giving us the emphatic performance his career needs.
 

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