Valencia July Fair: Diego Ventura and Fernando Adrián save the afternoon | Culture

Only five kilos away from the 600 kilos, the first bull for rejoneo from Los Espartales. Big, a mass of meat, but that gave a perfect game for bullfighting on horseback. They are of quality, dedication, tireless, comfortable too. All were virtues in a bull that allowed Diego Ventura to be at ease and find fertile ground anywhere in the ring. The farpas at the change, the banderillas at the break, the short ones without a solution of continuity and a precise, fulminating rejón de muerte, sum up an impeccable performance. This bull was fought by Ventura on the backs of Guadalquivir, Nómada, Lío and Guadiana.

Without the strength and quality of the first, the fourth also displayed virtues. Devoted to the horse, noble, without ever pressing, he let Ventura run wild. This time he mounted Guadalquivir, Fabuloso, Hatillo and Guadiana, sharing tasks in the different thirds: farpas, banderillas and death. After a banderilla, the bull collapsed and it seemed that the party was coming to an end. But no. The bull got up and maintained his vocation to charge without conditions. When it came to stabbing or when he played with the horse in what they call tempering on two tracks, Ventura once again enchanted the respectable. Both in one bull and in the other, the precision when stabbing was a fact. And in this fourth, another rejonazo with a fulminating effect.

Fernando Adrián’s first bull was a two-faced bull: one of proven meekness in the lances and one of total dedication in the muleta. He had a lot of air in the banderillas, he was lively, and for the muleta he was a bull of tireless charge. On his knees, without prior warm-up, Adrián received him with a couple of changed passes in the same dish. Given the condition of the bull, the man from Madrid took full advantage of him on the right horn, the most frank and committed. An attempt on the left did not go as expected and the muleta returned to Adrián’s right. The bullfight grew again, always through fundamental bullfighting, in a circle on the right, until the final manoletinas, from the front and achieved with cleanliness. A estoconazo with a spill was the finishing touch to a good job.

The fifth was not a pleasant condition, although he did have a certain style in the lances, he pushed and was almost dismounted by José Antonio Barroso, who held on to maintain his balance and get out of the tight spot unscathed. Lackluster, poking in the air at the exit of the muletazo, the bull never gave in. Adrián opened the range of dry courage, without gallery, sober and centered, but little more. A faena also followed by music without any reason; another nonsense. Adrián justified himself. A skilful sword thrust ended a colorless chapter.

Attempts upon attempts, doubts upon doubts and few clear ideas from Juan Ortega with the third. A bull that was compliant in the lances, to which two merciless jabs were prescribed. Ortega, losing steps out of habit, always correcting, and details that never really came together. Mirages that some people swallowed… but not everyone. The one from Núñez del Cuvillo, without any grace. And the music kept going, without anyone having claimed it.

In the sixth came the scandal, or half scandal. A beautiful peach-coloured bull, which was a perfect example of a tame and uncast bull. The first third became a capea, in which no fighter was able to restrain a bull that ran wild. In the bullfights, the bull went from horse to horse, without staying with any, but when the one on duty or the one at the door caught him fully, they crushed him with the pike. An absurd fight, without order or harmony. Ortega took the muleta to quickly put an end to such an unfortunate scene. On the face, defensive and distrustful. With the sword, lamentable. A spectacle to forget. Or to take note of.