Pamplona 13/07/2014 – Novena de Abono Adolfo Martín Bulls for Diego Urdiales, Manuel Escribano & Alberto Aguilar After four days of Domecq bulls (with mixed, but generally positive, results), I was looking forward to the variety afforded by these saltillos. The afternoon opened with a bull that, after banderillas, presented itself as mansito, reservón with a reticent charge. To top it all off he stayed short after each pass. Urdiales did his best to try and extract something out of the bull, but it was not to be. He was unable to keep the muleta in the bull’s face between each pass and the faena came to nothing. It would have been tough to stay still, not rectify one’s footing and try to link the passes. Such a plan would have probably ended in failure. Ultimately, Urdiales did well to stay out of harm’s way, but the lack of faena and uncertain sword work turned the crowd against him and he hear jeers. Escribano went to the toriles to greet his first bull with a larga cambiada a porta gayola. This was another difficult bull, as it showed during the tercio banderillas, cutting Escribano during his cuarteo. The banderillas were pleasing and placed square to the bull. Escribano added a hint of variety performing a quiebro al violín to conclude the tercio. The faena began with some passes cambiados – it was perhaps not the best choice given the difficulty posed by the bull, but they were emotive. Losing steps between each pass Escribano began constructing a faena on the right horn. The second series was performed al natural; the bull’s charge was very short and Escribano was unable to complete the pass, he also readjusted his positioning between each natural giving the faena a staccato feel. When the bull does not charge, it is nigh on impossible to perform meaningful toreo. Escribano tried to complete the faena with an arrimón, but this was barely possible. He thus structure the faena’s climax around a desplante de rodillas holding the bull’s horn. A succession of pinchazos annoyed the crowd. The third was another poor bull; its charge lacked commitment and class. Aguilar resorted to perform brisk, but continued, passes with the left hand. Some were al natural, but the majority were a dos manos, with the sword supporting the flaps of the muleta. Another meritorious effort that, necessarily, because of the bull’s inherent problems, lacked a hook. The feeling at the half way point was pitiful; the bull’s lack of quality had made toreo impossible. The trio of toreros performed admirably enough, but the afternoon lacked emotion due to the disinterested bulls. Unfortunately, the fourth bull was cut from the same cloth as its predecessors. Rather than charge at the muleta it would stare at it and not follow. Every now and again the muleta would peek the bull’s curiosity and he would follow it, but without conveying any emotion. Urdiales did well in stealing the odd moment of interest in the bull, and as the faena progressed he also managed to construct some meaningful series. I thought Urdiales did well. He persisted, built on the bull’s strong points (it was noble), ignoring its failing (its patent lack of casta and emotion), and gave us a faena at least worthy of the name. His work was undone as he took too long to focus the bull for the estocada, this tested the crowd’s patience and led to the pinchazo that preceded a crafty estocada. Escribano strode out to meet the fifth bull aiming to please, and once again headed to the puerta de chiqueros for another larga cambiada de rodillas. His spectacle continued with a well-executed tercio de banderillas. Escribano is by no means a purist or an artist with the sticks, but his work is neater than many others who have based their career around their brilliance with the banderillas. The third par al quiebro citing the bull while sat on the boards was especially striking. However, the performance collapsed along with the bull’s charge in the tercio de muleta. The bull reached the muleta with a problematic charge, it was never fixed on the lure and on the odd occasions that it charged, it would leave the torero’s jurisdiction with his head held high. This disinterested manner conveyed, for the fifth time this afternoon, a manifest lack of casta. The last bull of this disappointing corrida was perhaps the worst, combining all the negative traits of its brothers. Its initial vigour was based on anger rather than bravery, but, betraying the absence of casta, he would finish the charge looking disinterested, his head pointing in every direction that was not the muleta. Aguilar tried to extract passes with the muleta from the bull, but it was impossible. This was a tough corrida, with testing bulls. However, their difficulty was not based on bravery but rather on a complete lack of substance. Disappointing as this corrida was, I like to promote a fiesta with a variety of encastes; I will therefore not turn my back on the Adolfos. However, just as I abhor Domecq corridas that are populated with weak, dumb bulls; it would be disingenuous of me to give these bovines a pass today merely because of their grey coat. Pamplona 14/07/2014 – Decima de Abono 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. Show message history -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Mundo Taurino group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mundotaurino+unsubscribe@googlegroups. To post to this group, send email to mundotaurino@googlegroups. Visit this group at groups.google/group/mundotaurino. For more options, visit https://groups.google/d/optout. 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Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:25:56 +0000
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