Categoría: the bulls in English

First class bullring, third class novillos. Novillada with picadores. Saturday May 12, at the coso de Monleón, Valencia. Novillos from Gómez de Morales, new to this bullring, for the novilleros Christian Climent in blue and gold, Jorge Isiegas (night blue) and madrileñan Carlos Ochoa who was dressed in bright pink and gold. A warm evening and with half the plaza filled. Gómez de Morales’ ganaderia was established in 1999 and originally started out as a branch of the renowned Perez Tabernero family from Salamanca. However, in 2005 the Santa Colomas of don Alipio were exchanged for Atanasio Fernandez blood which in 2010, sadly, made way for the more commercial Juan Pedro Domecq bloodline. At the sorteo and subsequent enchiqueramiento, the novillos could best be described as nondescript black juanpedros, with a general weight of around 460 kilos and not exceptionally well armed (the only astifino animal went as a substitute…). That was at noon. At 9 p.m. when the last dead novillo left the arena, it had been the most boring, non-novillada I ever witnessed. Every drop of toro bravo blood was squashed out of these three-year olds. They either fell at the first touch of the picador’s steel or slid to their knees when the first banderilla was placed. These disgraceful animals should never have been brought to a first category plaza like Valencia’s. What we had to...

A sobrero from Parladé The novillada sin picadores on March 10 saw six well presented Nazario Ibañez’ two-year-olds, although unequal in weight and horns. The local novillero Borja Collado surprised us with two good quality faenas which got him an ear of each of his opponents. The young Valencian was the first to leave through the Puerta Grande.  On the following evening Juan José Padilla said farewell to the Valencian afición but he failed to male an impact. Román had made it clear he is a young torero with great talent of improvisation and a remarkable presence in the arena. His performance was awarded with the ear of his first bull. He was injured in the estocada and didn’t come back. Padilla cut the ear of the sixth Jandilla bull that should have been toreared by the injured Román Collad ,El Fandi did not leave a lasting impression The first novillada with bulls from Fernando Peña made the Valencian novillero Jesus Chover the happiest torero in town. He got the best two bulls of the evening and although he should have been rewarded with the ear of his first novillo, he cut two from his second and went out through the Puerta Grande. It earned him the title ‘Novillero of the Feria’ The second novillada came from El Freixo, a ganaderia owned by El Juli. Even thought they looked...

La Concha Flamen Corrida de toros, 19 March, last of Las Fallas. Valencia ( Spain ) The raIn, that had been threatening all afternoon, finally started to fall on the moment the clarine and the drum announced the last corrida of the Feria de las Fallas. Six bulls from Victoriano del Rio waited patiently in the holding pens of the bullring. For Antonio Ferrera, Ginés Marin and the recently promoted venezuelan matador Jesus Enrique Colombo, who got injured here in october last year but filled the place of Román who, earlier this week fell victim to a Jandilla bull and was unable to fulfill today’s engagement. Antonio Ferrera wore purisima and gold, Ginés Marin was dressed in light grey and gold and Colombo had chosen a white suit with gold embroidery. Weight off the bulls: 538, 532, 510, 535, 527 and 516 kilos. Only a third of the seats were covered, making it the worst attendance ever of a corrida on the 19th of March, Day of Saint Joseph, patron saint of Valencia. By the time the third bull came into the arena, the raIn was coming down so heavily that the floor was soaked and puddles started to appear on the sand everywhere. In general terms Victoriano del Rio’s bulls were good for the toreros, they all went for the muleta well although if one or two had been...