Several of the re-enactors who will be taking part in ceremonies to celebrate the running of the original match race at Long Island's Newmarket Race Course in 1665. As many as ten students from Garden City High School and Garden City Middle School will play a central casting role in the re-enactment of America's first horse race, which will serve as the opening ceremonies for the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at Belmont Park on Saturday, October 29.

The re-enactment will culminate a transatlantic celebration that traces the roots of American racing back to 1665 at Newmarket Race Course on Long Island. Named after the famed British race track, Newmarket was founded by the first English governor of New York, Richard Nicolls, on land that is part of modern-day Garden City.

The students from the village's high school and middle school will play the role of spectators dressed in period costume from the 17th century, while Garden City High School Principal Hank Hardy will be cast in the role of Governor Nicolls. Hardy will present a replica trophy that is housed at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to the winner of the match race, a truncated version of the original race that stretched over 16 furlongs, or two miles.

Presented by I LOVE NEW YORK and the New York Lottery, the 340th anniversary of horse racing in America underscores the historical, cultural and political ties between Great Britain and the United States and is designed to showcase the sport as an important contributor to tourism on both sides of the Atlantic.

In addition to the students and principal, the re-enactment will feature nearly two dozen members of the Islip Horsemen's Association Long Island Drill team dressed in period costume, as well as a multitude of fan fare brass trumpeters. The event will get underway at approximately 10:45 a.m., a little more than an hour prior to first post time on Breeders' Cup day - Thoroughbred racing's biggest day of the year.

On Friday, October, 28 - the eve of the Breeders' Cup - the students and Principal Hardy will join representatives from I LOVE NEW YORK and the New York Lottery, along with officials from Garden City, to commemorate the birthplace of racing by presenting a wreath on the spot where racing's rich history in Garden City is permanently celebrated with a plaque and quarter pole in the town center's park. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at the village gazebo.

Earlier Friday afternoon, at 1:30 p.m., Belmont Park racing officials will present a plaque to commemorate the 340th anniversary of horse racing in America. The presentation is currently scheduled to take place in the Paddock, where the plaque will remain a permanent fixture.