The afternoon was extraordinary, bulls and bullfighters gave reasons for joy and Miguel Ángel Perera came out on his shoulders through the Puerta del Príncipe, the first for him, after a great afternoon that will undoubtedly give more arguments to his twenty years of alternative.
The development of an afternoon of so much interest, brought about by the bulls of El Parralejo and with the happy ending mentioned, had several chapters that we try to explain below.
This morning we learned of the death of Jaime de Armiñán, who as a director and screenwriter has left his mark on titles such as My Dear Young Lady, The Love of Captain Brando, At the Service of the Spanish Woman, My General or La Becerrada, among many.
But without a doubt his series Juncal, broadcast on TVE in the 80s and performed by the great Paco Rabal as a bullfighter of little fortune and a philosophical sense of existence, remains in the memory, not only of bullfighting fans.
Juncal-Rabal, in each episode of the series, greeted him like this as he passed through La Maestranza: "Good morning, my queen. Have you rested well? And I'm glad."
That being the case, it would have been a detail of justice and sensitivity if at the end of the parade a minute of silence had been observed in memory of its creator, Jaime de Armiñán. But no, missed opportunity.
Even with the hangover from the brave display of the Santiago Domecq bulls fought the previous afternoon, the first of the El Parralejo bulls reviewed for the occasion came out, which passed without predicting great things for the first thirds.
Miguel Ángel Perera took the crutch and the bull began to charge greedily. The bullfighter from Extremadura, very firm and powerful, established order and fought in circles and also naturally, settled and with good lines in series that were exciting, cheered on by the public. Perera swallowed the bull's abruptness and reached the end, in suburban terrain, master of the situation. A task of great merit, of give and take at times, emphatically signed with the sword. The severed ear was a reward of absolute justice. Like the ovation to the bull in the drag.
Paco Ureña, who at the Valencian Fallas Fair left naturals to remember, received the second with veronicas of good arm play and the removal by chicuelinas and a half-rebujada from Borja Jiménez after the procedure of the third of rods had his that one.
Start of work firm the Murcian right-handed plant and rounds in which the bull charged with good sound. The bull and bullfighter did it even better in natural settings, making the music band break out, as the one from La Maestranza is blessed glory and brings joy to hearts.
With the bull already in a bit of a state of disrepair, Ureña went for the sword, but before using it he closed the task with four muleta blows for the sake of beautiful aesthetics and bullfighting. Rapier in hand, he turned rightly on the morrillo and, as things were, the request for a trophy turned out to be more stingy than the task - and the thrust - seemed to merit.
Borja Jiménez, after his previous season (great triumph in Las Ventas with that of Victorino) is seeing the reward in this one, he is one of the bullfighters expected by the fans and his name appears in the fairs.
He led the bull to the horse with a nice galleo and the bull pushed firmly. Perera entered the scene with tight gaoneras and Borja responded with aprons and Veronica stockings. The public thanked both of them with ovations.
In the middle of the toast to the public the bull took off from a distance and with the montera in his right hand and the muleta in the left he gave him three very excited naturals. With the montera on the albero and the crutch in the right hand, two series of rounds arrived with vibration that was already natural tempering and rest. A task with certain ups and downs in which Borja Jiménez wasted dedication, the same with which he went after the sword, which fell lower than desirable. Even so, many of those who did not take out the handkerchief in the previous bull now did and it was rewarded.
At the start he did not allow Perera's fourth capotero show (later he did, in the removal by tafalleras), but he did enter the horse twice with firmness, although hardly receiving any punishment.
He offered Perera to the public, with the long-awaited Prince's Gate ajar, and knelt on his knees in the middle. She took the bull from the third, changed the trip to the back twice and in the same way she bullfighted in a round with length and cadence. And the music played.
Already standing, he created series in round, fused bull and bullfighter in muletazos in which the class of the bull was added to the clarity of ideas of a plethoric bullfighter. The bull and bullfighter continued along the left piton in harmony, as there was at the end of a very warm task, including bernadines and a trench of posterity. And the Prince's Gate greasing the bolt...
He went in to kill, he plunged the rapier high, the bull rolled, delirium in the stands, two ears like two suns and a well-deserved return to the ring for the magnificent bull of El Parralejo. Bullfighting, in glory.
Ureña, who was left with honey on his lips in his first turn, proposed a task to the fifth (who lowered the grade of the previous ones) trying to subdue some attacks that were not very dedicated and the task never finished rising despite the efforts of a bullfighter whom The - let's call it - disagreement with the previous bull seemed to weigh him down.
Like Ureña before, the ear cut off by Borja on the third fueled his dream of Puerta del Príncipe. And to give him arguments he went to receive the sixth at porta gayola. He fought the long change and stood up and fought with a mix of very applauded verónicas and chicuelinas.
The two encounters with the horse, taken at once, barely revealed the bull's condition, but they did indicate aggressiveness. He again offered Borja to the conclave and opened the task by bullfighting high up with feet together.
In a roundabout way he linked a first series finished with a long chest pass. He continued with his left hand, very willing, putting more effort than the bull. From the front and together with his shoes he drew a pair of natural ones with beautiful expressions. The task could not be resounding but Borja Jiménez left his flag high.
They carried Perera on their shoulders, he crossed the threshold of the Puerta del Príncipe and before his gaze, on the other side of the Guadalquivir, Triana in the background. Seville, how wonderful.
