Mares Make Their Mark on Day Two of the US Dressage Finals at WEC – Wilmington
Mares won four of the five earlier daytime classes on day two of the 2025 US Dressage Finals presented by Adequan® at World Equestrian Center (WEC) in Wilmington, OH. The five classes were a clean sweep for female riders, including a double for Christine Morin-Graham. A second release covering the remaining four classes from day two will follow. The show runs from October 30 to November 2, 2025, with 37 championship titles on offer and a prize pot of $125,000.
Go First, Finish First
Leading from the front is becoming somewhat of a tradition for Christina Morin-Graham at the 2025 Finals. On Thursday, she topped the Adult Amateur (AA) Intermediate II on Mondlicht from first draw, and on Friday she repeated the feat, heading up the AA Grand Prix as first to go on her other big tour horse, the 16-year-old Damon Hill daughter, DSP Dauphin. She scored 68.696% for the win and also slotted in as runner-up on Mondlicht with 66.92% — an echo of the two mares’ results at the Region 8 Championships.
A couple of hours later, Morin-Graham nabbed her third winner’s blanket of the show when she rode her own 12-year-old Jazz mare, Ici De La Vigne, to the top of the leaderboard in the Intermediate I AA Championship with 66.912%.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime day,” said the ever-positive rider from Malvern, PA. “I’ve never won anything at Finals before this year. Last year, I brought Dauphin — trailered her myself, so I know nothing happened on the journey — and she was schooling fine for two days and then went head-bobbing lame. We have no idea why, but I had to scratch from everything. Last year really taught me to appreciate just getting in the ring. Having a sound horse and getting in the ring is a gift.
“I’d been working on the partnerships with both my mares and keeping their energy up,” she continued. “There’s room for a lot of improvement still, but it’s all on me. There’s nothing more that I could have asked from them.”
Morin-Graham is also attending the show as an owner, having passed the reins on two of her horses, Laurencio and Merlin, over to up-and-coming riders Ava Harry and Catherine Esibill.
“I love that I get to be a cheerleader and see them out there doing it,” added Morin-Graham, who works full-time as a partner in a private equity firm. “It’s fun that those horses that taught me so much at the lower levels are now giving back to other people. It’s great that they get the chance to come and show here. The facility is exceptional, especially given the weather this time of year. The footing’s great, the stabling is fantastic, and there’s a lot of emphasis on horse welfare, which is great. There’s a real positive energy.”
Morin-Graham is hoping to keep that positivity flowing on Saturday, when she will contest freestyle classes on all three of her mares.
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Mares Make Their Mark on Day Two of the US Dressage Finals at WEC – Wilmington
