“Our company was lucky enough to get the contract to do this, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Roger Cettina, a hard-hat-wearing senior vice president at AECOM Tishman, told The Post ahead of last week’s grand opening.
asserted
Cettina → get → opening
“Like, wow, a horse player like me could actually build the new Belmont Park — someplace that I came so often when I was younger,” the 59-year-old added.
uncertain
old → build → that
Cettina loved the equestrian sport since he was a boy growing up in Tenafly, New Jersey, and would spend his afternoons at Belmont before hightailing it back to the Garden State to catch night races at the Meadowlands track in East Rutherford.
asserted
he → love → Rutherford
He began his betting modestly as an 18- and 19-year-old, placing $2 or $5 fixes, but about 15 years ago Cettina took things up a notch by getting involved in national high-stakes contests where he saddled up over $5,000 of his own hey.
asserted
he → begin → hey
It was more for fun than a cash grab and never took priority over the day job, the construction worker said.
asserted
worker → take → job
“I enjoyed it.
asserted
I → enjoy → it
It’s math,” Cettina said.
asserted
Cettina → ’ → ?
“It’s a puzzle – trying to figure things out, and it’s just something that I totally got into.”
asserted
I → ’ → that
The builder made a name for himself in the 2013 National Horseplayers Championship, where he earned a cool $200,000 in second place with the odds stacked against him.
asserted
he → make → him
“There are eight or 900 entries that you’re playing against, and it’s over three days,” he explained.
asserted
he → be → days
“You bet basically to win and place on 15 races a day from all over the country, and whoever has the highest cumulative total wins.”
asserted
has → bet → total
Cettina came $1.20 short of first place, but remains “glasses half full” all these years later.
asserted
Cettina → come → place
His wife Wendy is anything but a neighsayer – especially after getting a brand-new Lexus from the winnings.
asserted
wife → get → winnings
He kept at it and again cruised to a runner-up spot in 2015, pocketing another $230,000.
“I cashed almost a half a million dollars between the two – and I’ve definitely not put that much money into it,” said Cettina, who co-owns a pair of horses.
asserted
who → keep → horses
“You have to be really lucky,” Cettina said.
asserted
Cettina → have → ?
Cettina’s lucrative longshots make him the NHC’s only contestant to have placed second more than once.
asserted
him → make → ?
After some “up and down” seasons that followed into the 2020s, Cettina estimates a stable lifetime net profit of around $300,000.
asserted
Cettina → follow → 300,000
“Not nearly enough to retire,” he joked.
asserted
he → retire → ?
Instead, Cettina kept happily working his 9-5 through it all and worked on major projects like the Goldman Sachs Headquarters in Lower Manhattan and renovations to the Javits Center.
asserted
Cettina → keep → Center
That’s in addition to both One and Two Manhattan West near Hudson Yards.
asserted
That → ’ → Yards
The latter was one of Cettina’s all-time favorites, until a dream job reconstructing Nassau County’s racing crown jewel from scratch came calling in 2024.
asserted
job → reconstruct → 2024
There was just one problem – Cettina has since moved about 75 miles south to Sea Bright on the Jersey Shore.
asserted
Cettina → be → Shore
“I went home and talked to my wife about it because obviously I couldn’t commute,” he said.
asserted
he → go → it
Wendy was on board with Cettina bunking in a friend’s West Hempstead basement on weekdays, and sometimes at another’s in the Bronx near the Throgs Neck Bridge.
asserted
Cettina → bunk → Bridge
“Then I packed my bags – and here I am.”
asserted
I → pack → bags
He’s spent the past two years galloping back home on weekends.
asserted
He → spend → weekends
“I don’t know of any other workers that are actually into this like I am,” Cettina said.
asserted
Cettina → know → this
“It was an unbelievable experience, and the chance for me to build a racetrack was just incredible.”
asserted
me → build → racetrack
The Aporia
