Bewitched

This is how we left the Plaza México yesterday, enchanted by the great spectacle that is bravery, a fundamental quality in the essence of the fighting bull; our reason for being as fans is to see a bull charge, a bullfighter bullfight and together enjoy the incomparable emotion of bullfighting.

I begin by congratulating rancher Rodrigo Barroso Cañedo, a member of one of the most important dynasties in Mexican bullfighting: the Barrosos, who currently have more than eleven active brands in the Mexican Fiesta.

Rodrigo's grandfather and father were cattle breeders; due to life circumstances, the Las Huertas brand was without a herd and without activity for some years until Rodrigo, with the vocation tattooed in his soul and heart, decided to start his path as a member of the third generation at home, with the plan of placing Las Huertas once again on the circuit of the great fairs.

The first thing on the table was the presentation of the six bulls last Sunday: age, size, build and appearance. Six authentic bulls. This is the aspect in which the breeders must not fail, the presentation of their bullfights; another thing will be what the bulls do in the ring. The saying goes that “bulls do not have a word of honor.”

To talk about bravery is to talk about what makes the fighting bull unique and exceptional. However, defining it is complex, since it is a concept of appreciation based on various aspects of the bull's fundamental behavior. The basis of bravery, in my opinion, must be the aggressiveness, that the bull, faced with any provocation, called "call" in bullfighting, comes with joy and power to take what is presented to it: cape, horse of pica, banderillero or muleta. At the point where the range of conditions, concepts and appreciation widens, making bravery something fascinating and at the same time personal in its appreciation, is the way in which it charges.

The bull evolved in favour of bullfighting, or vice versa, at the moment when the bull developed a fixation towards the object it was charging at. This allowed bullfighters to guide the charge, reduce it, polish the defects that may exist in the way of following the tricks and thus create the magic of the captivating beauty of bullfighting, which can come from different ways: aesthetics, emotion and, if possible, a combination of both.

The Las Huertas bull run fought on Sunday, February 23 in La México will go down in history as one of the bravest with all the complex nuances that bravery has in favor of bullfighting. Personally, I also really liked the first bull of the afternoon, from which Andy Cartagena cut off an ear; the second was not easy, it fell short and demanded the dedication and courage that José Mauricio provided without restraint, who would have cut off an important ear if the bull had doubled; the third, Hechicero, charmed from the start with his build and enchanted with his behavior of a brave bull, pride of his lineage, a bull that shows the prohibitionists that his death is worth his life, that we bullfighting fans take care of the bull.

Hechicero was the first bullfighter from El Calita, who has led the Mexican ranking in recent years, who has a place and who knew how to see the bull from the moment he came out. Hechicero, like any brave bull, was not easy; the power of his charge was in contrast with the rhythmic and slow bullfighting. El Calita always bet on him, even when he passed him alone with a jab that, by the way, was extraordinary on the part of César Morales, with a fall and maintaining the collection with the horse on the ground. The faena with the muleta was exciting because of the sensation that Hechicero charged without quarter. El Calita called him out from afar, letting the bull shine, which always, when returning from each muletazo, had the cloth in his face, with truth and without displacing him, respecting the charge, the route and the enormous transmission that this accumulation of qualities transmitted to the stands.

The euphoric public took the bull's side, which is fine and often happens; this does not mean that the fight that El Calita gave the bull was deficient, on the contrary. So much so that the bull, in addition to his aggressiveness and bravery, ended up showing class once he gave himself over to the muleta and there followed series that drove us crazy and that were decisive in granting the pardon to the brave Hechicero. A bull that I am sure will father for the rest of his days.

Triumph of Las Huertas, triumph of bullfighting and triumph of the Fiesta.