On Sunday June 28th in Las Ventas, Ivan Fandiño dedicated his toro to fallen Matador Israel Lancho who a month earlier received a horrific goring in the chest during the Feria de San Isidro. It was a great gesture to acknowledge Lancho’s recovery and desire to return to the ring.
It had been a couple of years since I’d been to a corrida in Tijuana. The last time was when Sebastian Castella fought a couple of years back. I’ve really lost my faith in Tijuana and its ability to stage first class corridas with Matadores worth the hassle of venturing down south for. Tijuana had fallen into a rut of presenting the same o’l retread second and third rate Matadores with the same no name ganaderias. I was thrilled at the news there might even be a season this year in the only remaining Plaza de Toros, La Monumental de Playas de Tijuana, with a different empresa than the Hurtado family. The first cartel was not attractive. Gaston Santos, Fermin Spinola and local boy and distant realative of mine, Pepehillo with bulls from who cares. Nothing of note was expected nor transpired according to the reports. The second corrida however enticed me enough to consider attending. Fernando Ochoa who I consider the finest Mexican senior Matador at the moment. José Mauricio, a second rate trementista who is scratching a living. Finally, Montoyita was to recieve his Alternativa with toros from Julian Hamdan… who the fuck. O.K., I could deal with these no-name toros inorder to witness the Alternativa of a novillero who almost died from a massive goring in is right thigh a year and a half earlier. Its was to be a special afternoon because it was the first corrida I would get to attend with my wife in a long time. She had not attended a corrida in Tijuana in about 4 years and was eager to see a good corrida. So with our Sentri passes in hand, we made the trek to Playas and were sitting having tacos de carne asada and some cold cheves one half hour after leaving our house in Chula Vista. The corrida started on a good note. Montoyita gave a good effort with the toro of his alternativa. The toro, as with the rest of the encierro from Hamdan was not good, sin casta y flojo. He extracted some good tandas, in particular his series of Manoletinas. Montoyita missed his chance at an ear with bad luck with the sword. The new matador had equally bad luck with his second toro who charged less and put Montoyita in a tough place while cutting his charge short and knocking the Matador down. Montoyita ended with an aviso and 3 descabellos. José Mauricio is not a good torero. He relies on his smile to win over the villamelones by covering his bad style, form and pretty boy tremendismo with out right ill trained toreo. Of course the villamelones loved it, including the Juez of Tijuana who gave Mauricio two ears for his flippant performance on the ffith toro of the day. Ochoa on the other hand was very good on the afternoon. With his first, Ochoa gave a workmanship performance capped of with a grand estocada. I will continue to say, Fernando Ochoa is Mexico’s best swordsman/killer. Ochoa’s second broke his leg after being drawn from the picador and was dispatched after not having the strength to lift himself. The judge erroneously refused to let the sobrero be next but rather ordered Mauricio fight next. This of course was done for dramatic effect as Ochoa gestured for a “toro de regalo”. The toros was from Fernando de la Mora and proved to be the best of the day. It blasted out of the toril and did well at the horse. The faena which ensued reminded me why I have such a hard time with dropping my hard earned cash at corridas in Tijuana. Not taking anything away from Ochoa’s performance which I’m the first to say was great. The sobrero, or toro de regalo did not charge from a distance, nor did it have the recorrido a true toro bravo should have. Proving the unprofessionalism which plagues Tijuana, the plaza’s speaker system started to play Mariachi ala Michoacan (Ochoa’s home state) to accompany his faena. The villamelones went nuts. Excuse me but is this not a formal Corrida de Toros or did I get lost and end up in the Circo! As the crowd grew evermore enthralled by the music and the good work Ochoa was doing in the ring, they reacted the best way they know, by throwing cojines into the ruedo. The shenanigans were out of control and as Ochoa lined up for the kill, the predictable and all to often occured. Indulto. I was livid. When the Juez granted the Indulto, my wife and I gathered our stuff and rushed out of the plaza disgusted at what we witnessed. Unprofessionalism, a total disregard for the non existent Reglamento Taurino in Tijuana and a beer fueled crowd of ignorant borachos. Hay Tijuana, what happened to you. You use to be so attractive. Now your just a drunk whore.
Javier Conde’s recent performance in Nimes spawned some interesting dialog last month on DBB. Many do not agree with his style of toreo, including myself. Despite that, I stumbled across an interview he did on Canalsur. Its an interesting insight into the life of this controversial Matador Malagueño. Conde will perform in Las Vegas on September 28th, 2009 with fellow Español Julián López El Juli and Mexicano Federico Pizarro and 6 California toros from Ganaderia Asoriana. I have so far reserved my opinions about the bloodless corridas to be held in Sin City, but I’m starting to believe they will happen. Stay tuned.
I couldn’t be in Madrid for this one obviously. I was however fortunate to view the corrida online live on Justin.tv on Friday 05/06/09. I never had the pleasure of seeing Luis Francisco Esplá perform in person, but I felt satisfied watching the dramatic afternoon of the maestro’s despedida from Madrid’s Plaza de Toros Las Ventas. Two of the toros from Victoriano del Río were fightable, with Esplá’s second animal and toro of his despedida being a noble toro who deservedly earned a vuelta. After Esplá’s placement of banderillas and initial stages of the faena, it was soon evident this was gonna be a special afternoon for Maestro Esplá. Soon after the first series, toro and torero were in sync. Esplá’s temple was the best of the month of corrida’s at Las Ventas. Esplá was enjoying the toro and topped his performance of with a dramatic and eventually effective estocada. Two ears were awarded to the matador “a la ley” and the crowd honored Esplá with two vueltas. Overall it was a great viewing experience and I’m sure a eurphric experience for those who were honored to be in attendance at Las Ventas.
De Rosa Jiménez Cano
Las-Ventas.com
Love him or hate him, Javier Conde drew the toro of his life last Friday May 29th in the 3rd Corrida of the Féria de Pentecôte in Nimes. Lanero, #83 from Garcigrande proved to be one of the best toros of the 2009 temporada. On this historic day in the Roman Coliseum along with Conde’s indulto, José Tomás cut three ears and Matías Tejela cut two. It was a truly an historic afternoon. Despite the triumphant afternoon, debate has surfaced as to Conde’s performance and his deserving of such a grand animal. Conde doesn’t help the issue with his stiff toreo and pirouette citing antics. Granted, Conde does not appeal to all, but not every great bull has been or will be fought by the best matadors. Because his style is different from José Tomás or Morante dosen’t make his passion to fight any less meaningful. Conde himself admitted he realized he could have done more with Lanero, but the emotion he experienced with such a fine toro was an experience he would not forget. So, is it right to discredit his performance? I don’t think so. Conde is no Morante, but he is a Matador who crosses the sand to risk his life and should not be stripped of the joy or satisfaction because of his style doesn’t appeal to all. His performance should be remembered as the best of the day, in a corrida which might very likely be the best corrida of 2009.
Courtesy of Corrida.tv
Courtesy of Mundotoro.com
It’s not that I like to post pictures of cornadas and volteretas. I find it even harder to write about the tragedy that happens in the ruedo. This year is getting really tough. Almost every corrida or novillada this year has had everything from extreme tossings, tragic cornadas, frequent puntazos and gutted horses. This has been a most frustrating Feria de San Isidro. In today’s corrida, Sevillano Salvador Cortés was putting together a good faena when he rushed a trincherilla with the Cebada Gago toro catching him in the right thigh. Cortés could not continue and was rushed to the infirmary to mend his 20cm goring. After yesterday’s violent goring of Israel Lancho and todays goring of Cortés, who knows what else will happen in what remains in this years Feria de San Isidro.
El Albero de Cope.es
ElMundo.es
