A bull from La Quinta in Bilbao was pardoned by Borja Jiménez

The class and the extended nobility of his many charges against the muleta of Borja Jiménez, who came out on shoulders, led yesterday in Bilbao to the pardon of the bull Tapabocas, from La Quinta, the first in the history of this bullring and the second granted in the Basque Country, since exactly twenty years ago the life of a bull from Victorino Martín was spared in San Sebastián.

Of fine and serious build and with a beautiful coat (he was bay, brindle, shredded, calcetero and caribello), the Santacoloma of the Cordoba divisa already showed his willingness to humiliate with ample quality from his exit and in the way he put his face under the horse's breastplate, in two short puyazos that were enough to leave him in an excellent point of strength for the muleta.

And, after finally confirming this in the chicuelina pass performed by Emilio de Justo, Borja Jiménez went directly to the middle to call him with many meters ahead and thus open the task with his right hand, without any tests or probing.

A simple incitement was enough for Tapabocas to go for the cloth with a gallop of rhythmic class, which did not diminish during the six series of sometimes short muletazos - only two with the left hand - that the Sevillian linked with him, who only had to accompany such long, repeated, sweet and open starts, without rushing the command, to bring the stands to their feet several times, although at times he had a certain lightness of wrist and abused rounding off the passes from the advantageous positioning on the head of the horn.

It was Tapabocas - a name with unpleasant memories, moreover, for a historic bullfighter like Domingo Ortega - who provided much of the excitement of a performance in which Jiménez enjoyed himself and settled, above all, in a deeper series with his left hand and in the low chest finishes, until the first requests for a pardon for the animal began to sound.

It was then, while the demand was being extended, the president was thinking about it and the bullfighter from Espartinas continued to fight, when the zeal of the bullfighter from La Quinta began to wane, becoming more distracted from the passes and with his face held higher, a defect that did not prevent this pardon from finally being granted, which marks yesterday's date in the history of bullfighting in Biscay.

Up until that moment, the bullfight had been almost forgettable due to the lackluster performance of the other three brothers in the litter, who did not have even a tenth of the depth and class of the bull that will return to the farm from which they left on their way to Bilbao.

Borja Jiménez himself, bothered by the wind at that moment, could not do more than be willing with the unkempt third, who always looked more at the boards than the muleta, while Emilio de Justo tried different ways, but equally unsuccessfully, to make the second pass, who barely had any room in his charges, just like a fifth who defended himself with headbutts and who he held with patience and firmness before knocking him down with a perfect sword thrust.

And if three of the Santacolomas bulls showed little breed value, neither did the Murube bulls of Fermín Bohórquez fought on horseback, which was aggravated by the abundant bleeding caused by the punishing rejones that Guillermo Hermoso de Mendoza stabbed them with.

The Navarrese rider couldn't do better with the opening bull, which failed to generate any excitement. And yet he achieved something more with the fourth, which had much more substance and volume than the previous one, but gradually lost momentum as the fight progressed, with not even the brave Berlín, the infallible horse from the Hermoso stable, managing to keep it on its hindquarters for a few meters. It was the rejoneador who had to put in more effort here to, after a swiftly effective death blow, land a generous ear.