The Casa Toreros returns for its second year of managing the iconic “Monumental de las Playas” bullring and has announced the first of 6 corridas that will make up the Tijuana 2014 season.
Following the promising debut effort of 2013, which saw the appearance of Spanish ace, Julian Lopez, “El Juli”, veteran Mexican star Eulalio Lopez, “Zotoluco”, taurine legend Rodolfo Rodriguez, “El Pana” and an inspired variety of promising new talent and the re-emergence of unjustly ignored veterans, Casa Toreros begins the new temporada by announcing the combinations for the first three corridas.
The inaugural corrida will take place Sunday, July 20, at 5:00 pm, and features the apparently eternal “Zotoluco” in his twentyeighth year of activity, the crowd favorite Arturo Macias, and newly minted matador and possible future star, Ricardo Frausto. They will face bulls of the Pozo Hondo ranch of Zacatercas, a “new-old” ranch whose owners have assiduously set about restoring the purity of the famous foundational Llaguno breed of bulls to its former glory.
The following Sunday, July 27, will feature the rejoneador Rodrigo Santos facing one bull from the San Pablo ranch, and the local hero Alejandro Amaya, alongside the renewed promise and solid toreo of Octavio Garcia, “El Payo” and veteran—if little known—Spaniard Vicente Bejarano. The trio of matadors will face bulls form the Campo Hermoso ranch of San Luis Potosi.
The final corrida of the opening half of the season will be Sunday, August 3, also at 5:00 pm, and feature Rejoneadora Monica Serrano and matadors Fabian Barba and Jose Mauricio.
Barba, a more than deserving “never was” from the apparently endless reserve of taurine talent supplied by bull culture hotspot Aguascalientes, will be performing for the first time in Tijuana, and Mauricio, one of the “revelations” of the last two Mexico City seasons, mixes a unique style and solid technique that has gained the regard of knowledgeable aficionados throughout the country.
Rejoneadora Serrano will face two novillos (young bulls) of the La Estancia herd. The matadors will face a foursome of bulls from the San Jose ranch of Guanajuato.
The remaining dates, thus far, are August 17, 24, and 31, with the possibility of a late season affair in September and/or October. Although specific combinations were not announced, Juan Pablo Corona, co-director of the management group, stated that toreros such as Mexico City 2013-2014 award winner and legitimate first line star, Joselito Adame, Fermin Spinola, Ernesto Javier “Calita”, Antonio Garcia, “El Chihuahua” and Michelito Lagravere have been signed to those dates. As many as four other toreros will complete those cards, but negotiations at the time of the press conference had not been closed.
Casa Toreros growing influence as a player in the generally unprofessional (when not totally corrupt) world of Mexican taurine promotion represents a sea change in both the quality of the events and the advertising around them.
Astute marketing acumen—delaying the start of the Tijuana season until the end of the Copa Mundial—a strong web presence, a variety of enticing ticket promotions, as well as innovative cartel design, compelling and topical cultural activities, and an unusually strong social presence have helped the firm to bring the corrida to the modern world even as its reputation is cemented by offering unique combinations of front line stars and important second tier toreros that have been mar-ginalized or ignored by the mainstream Plaza Mexico and Espectaculos Taurinos de Mexico oligarchies, and the best bulls available from ranches that are somewhat outside of the mainstream market.
If last year’s results are a harbinger of this year’s potential, aficionados from both Californias have much to look forward to.