“Hunger gives more gorings”, sentence attributed to Manuel García El Espartero, more than thirty gorings on his body for which he never lost his courage and died from one of them, on May 27 in the bullring in Madrid , gored when going in to kill by the bull Perdigón de Miura.
From Miura, a legendary ranch (180 years have been contemplated), tragedies and glories, were the bulls announced this Sunday afternoon in the novena of the San Isidro Fair, and before them a shortlist composed of Rafaelillo (a regular with the bulls who graze in Zahariche), Juan de Castilla and Jesús E. Colombo.
The adventure of one of them, Juan de Castilla, to be at seven o’clock in the afternoon in the quadrilla yard well deserves a preview.
It turns out that the bullfighter from Medellín, in homage to his humble working parents, took Castilla as his nickname (the neighborhood where he was born, the center of drug trafficking) from which he left to fulfill the dream of being a bullfighter no less than with the help of the great Colombian artist Fernando Botero and through the local matador Fernando Arango, who sent him a letter.
Botero paid for both of them to travel and stay in Seville for a year and a half during which Juan, who arrived at the age of 17, continued to progress in his learning until he ended up, with the late Iván Fandiño as godfather, at the International Bullfighting and Alto Center. Guadalajara performance and in 2017 he took the alternative in Medellín and his story of struggle and improvement continues, because “hunger is worse.”
And so, this same morning, under a deluge, a bullfighting competition for cattle ranches took place, each tougher each time, in the French town of Vic Fezensac. When he finished, together with his crew, he got on a plane in Toulouse, arrived in Barajas and without passing by the hotel, took a van to Las Ventas, dressed as bullfighters again and when bugles and kettledrums sounded, there they were.
A Miura with an imposing appearance opened the square and left no room for Rafaelillo, a regular with Zahariche’s iron, to show off with the cape, nor was there any in rods and banderillas and much less reached the muleta. Without the strength or will to attack, so Rafaelillo shortened, although he did not succeed in the attack until the fourth attempt.
A standing ovation at the end of the parade, in recognition of his confirmation afternoon in September 2023, was received by Juan de Castilla and when his first turn came he tried to stretch to the veronica, but the one from Miura faltered more than necessary, causing protests in the stands, which They continued with both rods and banderillas, but the usía did not flinch and kept him in the ring.
Juan de Castilla summoned him from afar, crutch in his right hand and with a good pulse he embarked him in round series. The natives had temperance and the bull also responded to the bullfighter’s surrender in the right blows before the Colombian was not correct in the final fate.
The third was greeted by Jesús Enrique Colombo with bullfighting a la verónica and in the third of rods he entered his turn to take off through tight chicuelinas. He took the sticks to put together a spectacular and committed third of banderillas, in which in each embroque Miura put the pitons now in his face, now in his chest.
He gave the public the Venezuelan bullfighter and without further ado quoted him from afar. The bull came at him quickly and Colombo withstood the challenge, in a series of rounds that had emotion as a virtue, which was not the same for the left bull and from then on the task became less. He threw himself into the lunge but it went down and he got stuck with the jerk. Still little to reproach him for.
Disregarding the cape that Rafaelillo offered him and looking into the alley, the fourth came out, pushing in his first encounter with the horse, which was long and the second was a process. The Murcian right-hander tried to carry out the attacks by helping the bull, which had no bad sound but little strength and that spoiled the muletazos. The effective thrust led to Rafaelillo receiving a standing ovation.
The fifth, as soon as he came out and doing the longuis, jumped into the alley – so busy – and did it again a second time, fortunately without consequences. Juan de Castilla gave the public a performance with series by the two pitons, always very settled and carrying long attacks, which little by little became tempered. It was a shame that he didn’t sign it with the thrust, better in its execution than in the placement. The ovation award was fair recognition.
The sixth weighed 637 kg and sported generous antlers, a Miurean appearance on all four sides. Arriving at banderillas, Colombo had a drink with the attacks, which came like thunder and each encounter, of which there were four, was a heads or tails.
Aggressive bull, inside and out, with which Colombo fought, starting with muletazos based on good technique and commendable decision. After a puncture, the lunge to the ball put an end to an afternoon that, for one reason or another, always maintained interest.