The bulls fight back!

'Bullfighting is not a sport. It was never supposed to be. It is a tragedy ... The tragedy is the death of the bull.'

So wrote Ernest Hemingway after he witnessed his first bullfight as a reporter in Spain. But three bulls yesterday turned the tables on their killers.

They challenged their own ritual slaughter - and won.  

Olé! David Mora is floored by an El Ventorrillo fighting bull during a bullfight at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid

Beast versus man: The matador is tossed backwards by the huge bull, which is primed for the kill

Floored: Mora was downed by his first bull, before he was even able to plant any banderillos into its body

Head over heels: Mora is flicked around the bullring like a ragdoll by the enraged bull he intended to kill

Gored: Mora was pierced through his femoral artery by the bull, and needed immediate emergency surgery

The goring is seen here from another angle. Mora was still in intensive care today but was said to be recovering

Disaster: Mora's fellow matadors run to his aide, capes flapping, as he is repeatedly gored by the raging bull

Occupational hazard: Assistants help a grimacing Mora from the bullring after he was badly wounded in the fight yesterday

A right bulls up: The injured matador is carried away as his blood drips down the elaborate outfit of one of his assistants

Bulls 3 - Matadors 0. If bullfights had a score line that would have been the one at the Las Ventas ring in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday evening.

All three matadors were gored, one of them severely, and the rest of the bloody spectacle was cancelled because there was nobody left standing to fight. 

It happened at the 12th corrida in the Spanish capital, less than half-way through the Fiesta of San Isidro, the biggest single event in the official season.

Described by Hemingway as the 'World Series of bullfighting', it lasts for nearly a month with a fight every day.

Antonio Nazare is gored in his leg by a Los Chospes ranch fighting bull after killing the one that took out Mora

Nazare falls to the ground bleeding after his clash with the bull. Fighting bulls usually weigh about half a ton

Tragedy: Nazare's cape drops to reveal the bull's bloodied back, as it makes sure he is unable to get back up

Death in the afternoon: The bull which beat Nazare spews blood after it is killed by Jimenez Fortes, top second left, in the traditional manner - but without the flair and flamboyance which bullfight audiences come for

Victory: Fortes salutes the spectators as the Los Chospes ranch fighting bull dies at his feet

First to lose was David Mora. Brought down by his first bull of the afternoon, he was gored in three places as he was tossed around the ring like a rag doll.

After Mora was carried-off and rushed to the infirmary for emergency surgery, Antonio Nazare followed tradition and dispatched the bull using cape and sword.

But he did so as swiftly as possible, with none of the flair audiences expect.

Then it was Nazare's turn to fight his own first bull of the afternoon. Within minutes he followed Mora to the infirmary with a single goring.

Flair: After dispatching Nazare's beast, Fortes swings his cape as he fights his own bull

Ouch: But he was soon also stuck beneath the merciless charge of the bull he had intended to kill

Fortes's sword flies from his hand as the bull does its best to survive the mortal combat it has been forced into

The bullfighter is tossed into the air by a flick of the bull's neck, as both are stained red with blood

There was little the matador could do on the day to fight back against the half-tonne of pure muscle and rage he was matched up against

Not getting up: With no one left to fight the remaining bulls, there was no alternative than to cancel the rest of the corrida - the first time in 35 years that a bullfight has been stopped during the Fiesta de San Isidro

The one remaining matador, Jimenez Fortes, stepped into the ring and killed the animal, again swiftly and without flamboyance.

Then his own first bull sent him flying through the air, catching him on its horns three times.

After Fortes was taken to the infirmary the bull was enticed back into its stall alongside the pens of the other three who had also escaped their scheduled deaths in the afternoon.

With no one left to fight them, there was no alternative than to cancel the rest of the corrida.

It was the first time that had happened during San Isidro since 1979, and only the third time in the fiesta's history.