The scene inside San Agustín del Guadalix’s bullring as its lights failed during Friday’s competition. Credit: @forocoches / X
Sergio Reguera was standing only metres away from an already charging bull when the lights in a bullring near Madrid cut out completely, leaving him with nothing to see and nowhere to go. Witnesses say the lighting system had already failed four times that evening, but organisers didn’t stop the show.
Lights cut out as Reguera faced the bull alone and in darkness
Reguera, a recortador (a performer who dodges and leaps over charging bulls without a cape or sword), was attempting a quiebro, the sport’s signature last-second dodge, when the power went at the XXIII Concurso de Recortes in San Agustín del Guadalix, a small town just north of Madrid.
The bull was already charging. With the arena in total darkness, Reguera had no way of judging where the animal was or which way to move, and he was caught and thrown to the ground in front of a crowd that could barely see any more than he could.
Se va la luz justo cuando le llegaba el toro al recortadorhttps://t.co/eSRjZYZQxu pic.twitter.com/QDGGl7rrgW
— Forocoches (@forocoches) September 20, 2026
He was treated by the venue’s medical team and came back out later that night to wave to the crowd, his arm immobilised and clearly still sore. Friday’s contest was the 23rd staged in the town, and organisers had never had an incident quite like it before.
The lights had reportedly failed four times already
What turns this from a freak accident into something more serious is the fact that, according to witnesses cited by Telemadrid and the bullfighting outlet Arribes Taurinas, the same lighting system had already cut out up to four times before the competition even started that evening.
So instead of an unlucky fault, San Agustín del Guadalix’s bullring appears to have gone into the event with everybody there aware of the problem, the kind that leaves a crowd wondering how organisers could possibly let the show continue. Arribes Taurinas called the failure intolerable and unacceptable, and said fans and fellow recortadores are now demanding answers.
Recorte is meant to be the safer side of bullfighting
Unlike a traditional corrida, a recorte doesn’t involve killing the bull or even wounding it. Performers rely purely on athleticism, timing and a clear view of the animal to dodge it, leap over it or vault off its horns, without cape, sword or any protective gear.
That’s exactly what makes a blackout so dangerous for the people taking part. Plunge them into darkness and the recortadores lose the advantage they have over an animal that can weigh half a tonne.
No explanation yet for what caused it
Neither the organisers of the concurso nor San Agustín del Guadalix’s ayuntamiento (town hall) have issued a public explanation for the repeated failures. It’s another mark against a rough year for Spain’s bullrings, following a banderillero seriously hurt in a goring at Madrid’s Las Ventas, a retired matador killed at La Malagueta in Málaga, and a string of similar incidents in rings across the country.
Reguera is recovering, and the bullring has run this competition for more than two decades without major incident. Until organisers say what went wrong with the lights and why the show went ahead despite the earlier warnings, anyone booking a ticket for the next Concurso de Recortes is trusting that Friday night’s fault has actually been fixed.
