“Long live Spain!”, and the variety, the art and the caste!

“Viva España!” shouted a spectator for the umpteenth time as Cristiano Torres chased the tame fifth bull around the Las Ventas bullring. “Viva!!,” responded the others. The surreal image perfectly illustrates the afternoon's absurdity and, why not, the caricature that some have turned bullfighting into.

"Long live variety, art, and breed!" was all that was needed to exclaim, in homage to the insufferable spectacle sponsored by the company and the Community of Madrid, which once again announced a medley of Madrid stud farms, almost all of them new and virtually unknown. A parade of "Domecquian" castoffs (all the brands had the same origin), well presented, of course, and as noble as it was lacking in breed.

Only the third, from Guerrero and Carpintero, greedy and demanding, approached the behavior that a brave bull should have. An animal of noble caste that Cid de María had to fight . Except for three well-tempered and well-drawn natural passes, the performance of the Madrid bullfighter, who was performing in the capital, suffered from a total lack of cleanliness, depth, and command.

His work with the tame sixth bull, owned by Hermanos Sandoval, was going down the same path until De María resorted to populism and self-importance to attract the attention of the stands, packed with an inattentive and ignorant audience—giving away tickets is what they do—who spent the entire event applauding nothing. He killed it at the first attempt and they asked for an ear. Thank goodness the president didn't grant it.

Another grotesque moment occurred in the third of the varas to the fifth, a peculiar utrero careto of the brand—almost of the same name— from Caras Blancas de Carpio. After the animal charged, the picador, Juan Manuel Sangüesa, missed his aim with the stick, and the bull ended up going under the horse, which immediately fell to the ground. Nothing happened, but the crowd was so impressed that they gave Sangüesa one of the afternoon's ovations as he left. Seeing is believing.

Cristiano Torres, who was calm and almost always off the mark against the very weak and uncast second bull, from José González, became very annoying with that fifth bull, tame, without caste and very lackluster.

Bruno Aloi also had merit, heeding a warning on each of his turns for two performances in which he never said a word. The Mexican clearly has experience, but against such opponents, excitement is impossible. His first, from Ángel Luis Peña, ran out of what little depth he had when Aloi tested him to begin the task. Three half-charges, mouth open, and it was over. More or less the same as the fourth, a serious, dirty soap-maker from Cerro Longo, of impeccable build, who spent half the task trying to escape.

As I said, long live variety, art and class!