The day has dawned cloudy in San Sebastian. The city of San Sebastian celebrates its festivities in August that year of 1896. The businessman of the old Chofre, Jose Arana, has scheduled five bullfights for the same, making it known on the billboards that the animals to be fought were “chosen bulls, among the of higher price, of the most renowned ranches”. The toradas announced were the “colmenarenas” of Aleas and heirs of Felix Gomez, the Navarrese of Espoz y Mina, the Andalusian of Saltillo and the famous one of the Duke of Veragua. To fight and kill them, Arana had adjusted a contract with Luis Mazzantini, Guerrita, Antonio Fuentes, Emilio Torres Bombita and Algabeno. The expectation was maximum. So much so that spectators had gone to the box office ready to acquire the best seats.
The star poster of the fair was the one announced for August 15. Hand in hand between two renowned bullfighters . On the one hand, Luis Mazzantini from Gipuzkoa. On the other, the absolute monarch of the bullfighter of his time, Rafael Guerra Guerrita. There are those who seek competition artificially. Everything is useless. The Cordovan is far above that burly young man who walked through the arenas, achieving fame for his forceful lunges. Competing with the Cordovan colossus was a chimera . His knowledge, his trade, his aesthetics and his personal bullfighting were impossible to match.
Mazzantini performs in a square in the north and very close to his native Elgoibar. His supporters would travel to San Sebastian to witness his performance.Mazzantini has to be fine, he cannot disappoint his own , nor be below the colossus of Cordoba. On the morning of the celebration, everything seems to adhere to the traditional canons.
The young man of swords has arranged on the chair a green suit, perhaps nile, and gold with scarlet trims. Don Luis, well known for his origins and fine manners, wears a showy silk dressing gown. The orders to his representative, Federico Minguez, are categorical. Neither the Aleas foreman, nor the rancher himself, may be allowed to determine the order of the bulls’ departure. Surely they would favor Guerrita. It was the time when the breeders determined the fighting order.
That is why they used to release in the first and second place, animals of imposing rags, in order to win the favor of the public. In third place, a bull of less presence used to be fought, surely because it was fought by the most novice sword of the list, hence the fourth was once again another bull of irreproachable presentation. For the fifth, the bull with the best grade was reserved and for the sixth, once the celebration had passed for better or worse, the smallest bull of the running of the bulls was released.
What happened
Well, Mazzantini, with more seniority as an alternative than Guerrita, used to kill the two largest bulls in each bullfight, and together with the fact that Guerrita surpassed him in everything, they always used to be in evidence before the public, his poor bullfighting ways, only compensated by his style as an orthodox stockman. Minguez asserted the wish of his client. Finally, the starting order of the bulls was determined by lottery .
The imposition of Mazzantini in a square where he had a great poster, as well as the enormous expectation raised by the bullfight, made the draw criterion prevail for the first time. It is said that when the gang arrived at the hotel, where Rafael was staying, they told him that the bulls had been raffled off by Mazzantini’s imposition, to which the Caliph II exclaimed: “Why would that stupid guy want the fighting bulls, yes
” Then he doesn’t know what to do with them.”
It’s time to leave square. The Basque bullfighter wears green and gold. Gunmetal gray and gold. In the stands, filled to the brim, familiar faces are seen. Among them the actress Maria Guerrero or the musicians Ruperto Chapi or Pablo Sarasate. The bulls, well presented, attended by the names of Zafreno, Ermitano, Guindo, Sabandizo, Cardoso and Zancajoso.
The rain made its appearance halfway through the run. Mazzantini and Guerrita shone according to their conditions, taking the cat to water, despite the draw and the adverse weather, the bullfighter from Cordoba. Mazzantini was always far behind Guerrita, the differences were obvious, it was impossible to win the game. She warlike knew it and for that reason she liked to flaunt her superiority in the ring. On one occasion when Mazzantini was overwhelmed with a bull of power, he told Guerra: “Rafael, why don’t you lend me a crutch of yours to see if I can handle the bull”, to which Guerrita replied: “Take the you want, but you don’t fight that bull like me, even if you sleep with Lagartijo”.
That afternoon of August 15, 1896, the bulls were released for the first time by chance draw. It took a while for the new form to prevail, although finally, after Guerrita had retired from bullfighting, he managed to become a regular.
