Ferruccio Lamborghini – born under the zodiac sign of Taurus – when he founded the famous super car company, that since then bears his name, gave to it the symbol of the fighting bull. Later, in the ’60 decade, when the Miura was introduced, he named the car after a famous bull’s race, and this practice became a tradition for the 
House of the Bull. 

Honouring this tradition, the Management of Automobili Lamborghini have decided to baptize their latest model with the name of a fighting bull’s breed: the Gallardo (pron.: ga:yàrdo). Most people probably are not aware that the origins of the fighting bull proceed from five main breeds, that is: Cabrera, Navarra, Vasqueña, 
Vistahermosa and Gallardo. 

Today, ninety percent of the fighting bull breeds proceed from Vistahermosa branch, with some exceptions, such as the Miura race - that comes from the Navarro - which is today the only breeding stock that maintains a pure origin. Another exception is the breeding race of “Partido de Resina” - that was called once of “Pablo Romero”-, that comes from the Gallardo race.

Historically, these bulls have enjoyed a well-deserved fame of being the most beautiful specimen within the race. The Gallardo breed was created in the XVIII century. It draws its name from Francisco Gallardo and his brothers – cattle breeders at (of the) Santa Maria (Cadiz) – who, thanks to the good results obtained by their bulls’ 
behaviour in the arena, reached a considerable prestige in the most important plazas de toros.

Although the Gallardo family is considered the creator of this fundamental race of fighting bulls, it has been established that its origins are older, as they can be attributed to the Brothers Cartujos of Jerez (Cadiz), who bred it from the collection of the so called “diezmos” which was a tax that all cattle breeders and farmers had to pay to the catholic Church. The payment was made by giving to the Church one of every ten calves the herd would be increased by. 

Bernardo de Quiros, a Navarro priest with a farm in the Rota location (Cadiz), taking advantage of his ecclesiastic relationships, bought the cattle (cows and calves) from the Dominican brothers. Years later, the Gallardo brothers bought a large part of the breeding stock from him.

Francisco Gallardo, through a selection, succeeded in fixing the characters of the Gallardo race, that can be resumed as follows: good looking face, heavily built, with a majority of black or gray mantle. During the fight they were famous for being very courageous and to maintain their strength and aggressiveness till the last tercio, which all bullfights fans loved. 

After Francisco Gallardo’s death, his heirs sold the breeding stock in three lots, one of which ended in the hands of Juan Miura, great-grandfather of the current owners of this legendary bulls breeding ranch.