Who was Ignacio Sánchez Mejías?
15 de January de 2026
The In Memoriam bullfight, held every June at Las Ventas once the San Isidro Festival has ended, has become one of the most traditional events
It’s no secret that the art of rejoneo is living its Golden Age. It’s no longer dismissively referred to as “the little horse number”. And its programming has ceased to be a “patch” or an addition to the fairs. Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza first and later Diego Ventura have elevated its category, have driven a breed that fits like a glove to this kind of bullfighting (the Murube breed) to reach a perfection in taming, in expression and in the embroques hardly imaginable.
First it was Hermoso, who at the end of the last century began to break the molds in which he found himself, somewhat ossified by the way, this type of celebrations. His triumphs and the strength he began to acquire at the box office served first for the Navarrese bullfighter to discard the colleras (thus is called the fight of a bull by two rejoneadores at the same time) and to impose the ternas of rejoneadores, something that gave the celebration more seriousness, entity and competition.
The stride and rhythm of the Murube bulls contributed notably to develop a concept that went beyond the cite and the meeting. He gained in temperance and boosted the side gallop parallel to the boards with an unforgettable herd in which emerged, above the rest, his horse Cagancho. This gray horse was an indispensable part in the consideration that Pablo Hermoso reached in bullfighting, especially after the tail he cut at the April Fair in Seville in 1999.
Ventura arrived later, when the explosion of this art had already occurred, but he gave a twist to the paths already traveled by the master. He delved into his tauromachy. More cinched, and therefore, even purer if possible. His herd also has unforgettable equines, and among them all stands out ‘Distinto’, a gray horse that was able to cite and break on a tile and to measure backwards the charge of the bull to beat the opposite horn. Ventura holds the record for Puertas Grandes in Seville and Madrid, in addition to having been the last bullfighter to walk a tail in Las Ventas, in San Isidro 2018.
Both are protagonists of the rejones festivities of this San Isidro. Hermoso because he says goodbye to the fair in a celebration that promises to be historic, with his son Guillermo on the poster and Léa Vicens completing the terna, that Saturday, May 18 that all lovers of the art of marialva. Ventura for his part is the only rejoneador who, according to his status as a top figure, is announced two afternoons. The first on Sunday, May 26 along with the matadors Cayetano and Ginés Marín and the last on June 1, in the company of Rui Fernandes and Sergio Galán.
The bulls, as corresponds to the cache of these shows, belong to the Murube breed: From the ranches of El Niño de la Capea both the celebration of Hermoso and the bulls that Ventura will kill along with Cayetano and Ginés Marín, and from the Los Espartales brand, owned by José Luis Iniesta, the enclosure planned for Saturday, June 1. The Las Ventas square will roar once again with the rejones festivities and, although Hermoso and Ventura do not bullfight together (happiness is never complete) each one will do his part to continue placing this art at the top, while they challenge the sentence of the master Vidrié: “Is there anything more that can be done to a bull on top of a horse?” The answer, next San Isidro.
The In Memoriam bullfight, held every June at Las Ventas once the San Isidro Festival has ended, has become one of the most traditional events
Emiliano Osornio’s return to Madrid provided the standout moments of the Autumn Fair’s opening day. With the fifth novillo, he produced passages full of depth and composure, in a contest marked by the limited play of the livestock.
The 2025 Madrid Autumn Fair is the perfect showcase to take the pulse of bullfighting — especially of what lies ahead in the coming years. If the passion and imagination that the company has shown in crafting these original line-ups is matched in the ring, the fair could prove historic. Personally, I wouldn’t miss it.
