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.
No comments:
Post a Comment