Monumental Plaza of Las Ventas, May 13, 2023

4th of the San Isidro Fair. Mixed Bullfight.

Almost full on a cool afternoon in the shade and with less wind than yesterday. With an audience that is somewhat different from that of other evenings, as is usual with the announcement of rejoneadores.

Two bulls of María Guiomar Cortés de Moura for the fight on horseback (1st and 4th) of 546 and 579 kilos, well presented of best game the second. And four from Montalvo for the very serious foot fighters between 543 and 577 kilos, all of them presenting, short, curdled and Astifinos.. Demonstrating that excess weight is not needed to be scary and measure up in Madrid. The first two with the intention of attacking at the start collapsed on the crutch, only allowing a few loose sets, very one by one, without reaching the lines with their attack or allowing the victory. The fifth the worst. The sixth, also very serious, in the hands of Ginés was the surprise of the afternoon. From not expecting anything to attacking in a long and intense task, attacking from below with nobility and going further with each batch.

🙌 The 4th of #SanIsidro2023 has started! Full in #LasVentas to see the mixed bullfight with Diego Ventura, Paco Ureña and Ginés Marín with bulls from Cortes de Moura and Montalvo.

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– Plaza de Las Ventas (@LasVentas) May 13, 2023

• DIEGO VENTURA in black velvet and silver buttons, ovation and ear.

• PACO UREÑA, of tobacco and gold, silence and silence.

• GINÉS MARÍN, currant and gold, silence and ear, with great strength after a great lunge.

Antonio Manuel Punta stood out among the crews and a great removal from Curro Vivas to his partner when he came out of a couple of flags.

Ginés was a bullfighter on the way to the center of the ring. It was the sixth in the afternoon. The spirits of those lying rolling down the stairs. Ventura's ear only made up for those who came for the horses instead of the bullfighters. Ureña had no luck. Spirits were low. They rolled down that precipice, which is the obsolete architecture, precipitating their departure and failing to comply with the rules those who had less faith. We all had little after such a short game of precious Montalvos. The difference between flight or patience was marked by the folding of public order and respect for all rules. But above all, the most important thing was to have seen Ginés more times. It is always worth it.

It was time for the toast and without a hint of hesitation he began to walk in bullfighter to the center of the ring. He walks well this bullfighter. He floats but steps firmly. Walking everything is poise, but it seems light. Most of us did not want to protest, there was no need to knock down anyone today -and many came today just to applaud Ventura and hallucinate with his horses- only a few of us applauded the gesture that Ginés broke the monotony of the afternoon with his own faith. “The goodwill is appreciated, but I hope it doesn't take too long” could be the average thought during the dedication. The bull had done the same as his brothers during the first two thirds, normal that the bets also tended to failure. None of the three bulls finished off on the crutch or the promises of their works or their statements on the horse, so we think that Rebujín would deflate with the first crutches. I would agree with those who fled and those who prefer horses.

And it would have been that way if it hadn't been for the fact that a great bullfighter was put at the controls in front of him. The mime, the mettle and the patience revitalized that of Montalvo, motivated him. His first attacks and his last were the typical story, so exploited by Hollywood, of a talented athlete with not a very good environment and doomed to failure.. At the beginning of the movie, after making clear his status as a loser, his great inspirer comes out and after fierce training he ends up distributing milk, winning only the game, triumphing in any discipline. But not little, in a big way. Rebujín felt like Rocky and from the middle of the fight onwards he pulled out all his strength, developing his lunging technique to allow the finishing touches while maintaining his nobility.

The transformation did not come all at once. It came muletazo by muletazo. Not a rub, not a hitch, not a tug, not any brusqueness. Not a cite in the wrong place, not a wrong distance. The first three tandas were good, but they were training for the climax of the fight. Also like in those movies, the stretch has attraction. Such technical subtleties are not seen every day. You don’t even always see them on the same bullfighter because they are not always sublimated.. They require a very clean mind, of unambiguous decision, of feeling very bullfighter.

Gines embroidered this process without renouncing aesthetics. Step by step in the progress and step by step between the tandas walking very bullfighter.

He raised the bar of beauty when the bull finally charged him from below and to the right. Slowly. To the rhythm of Gines’ gait, slow, aesthetic, beautiful. Fundamental passes and very varied finishes, easing the assaults that were getting long for the brave Rebujín, reaffirmed the clairvoyant moment of this bullfighter who promises to go far. The faena, finished off, deserved a grand finale. Ginés was also a bullfighter with the sword. It is a literal. He walked toward the morrillo with his chest forward. It turned so slowly that the “ole” reached the hole of the needles long before the hilt. It was a pity that it fell down and the bull resisted to fall. A faena created at the pace of each tanda deserved a better angle of entry.

The public asked for the ear recognizing the merits and recognizing in Ginés, and in his exceptional moment, a new milestone in the fair. And if not time to time.