For Roger Cettina, rebuilding Belmont Park was the kind of opportunity that could only come around once in a lifetime.The 59-year-old senior vice president at AECOM Tishman had spent decades as a passionate horse racing fan, making modest $2 and $5 bets as a teenager before becoming a serious competitor in national horseplayer contests. Years later, his love for the sport brought him back to the legendary Long Island racetrack – this time not as a spectator, but as one of the people helping rebuild it.“Our company was lucky enough to get the contract to do this, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Cettina told The New York Post ahead of the racetrack’s grand 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,” he added.
From teenage bets to nearly $500,000 in winnings
Roger Cettina finished runner-up in the National Horseplayers Championship twice, won nearly $500,000 and was inducted into the NHC Hall of Fame. (Photo: Lone Pine Press)
Cettina’s fascination with horse racing began while growing up in Tenafly, New Jersey. As a boy, he would spend afternoons at Belmont Park before heading back to New Jersey for night races at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford.His own betting began modestly at 18 and 19, when he would wager just $2 or $5. About 15 years ago, however, he stepped into the world of high-stakes horseplayer competitions, sometimes putting more than $5,000 of his own money into contests.For Cettina, it was never simply about making money. He saw horse racing as an intellectual challenge – something that complemented rather than replaced his construction career.“I enjoyed it. It’s math,” he said. “It’s a puzzle – trying to figure things out, and it’s just something that I totally got into.”That approach paid off spectacularly.In 2013, Cettina finished second in the National Horseplayers Championship, winning $200,000 after competing against hundreds of entries over three days.“There are eight or 900 entries that you’re playing against, and it’s over three days,” he explained.“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.”Cettina missed out on first place by just $1.20. But the runner-up finish still proved hugely lucrative, and his wife Wendy certainly appreciated the prize money, particularly after he bought her a new Lexus.Two years later, Cettina did it again.He finished runner-up in the 2015 championship, collecting 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,” he said.Cettina also co-owns two horses and credits luck as one ingredient in his success.“You have to be really lucky,” he said.
The ‘master’ of horseplaying
Cettina’s two runner-up finishes made him the only National Horseplayers Championship contestant to finish second more than once.The Daily Racing Form dubbed him “the master” of his craft in 2016. A year later, he was inducted into the NHC Hall of Fame.His results fluctuated in the years that followed, but Cettina estimates that he has made around $300,000 in net profit from horse racing over his lifetime.“Not nearly enough to retire,” he joked. “Not in New York and New Jersey.”So the construction business remained his day job.Cettina worked on major projects including the Goldman Sachs headquarters in Lower Manhattan, renovations to the Javits Center and One and Two Manhattan West near Hudson Yards.But in 2024, an opportunity arrived that combined both of his passions: construction and horse racing.
From racing fan to Belmont Park builder
After visiting Belmont Park as a teenager, Roger Cettina returned decades later as part of the team rebuilding the iconic Long Island racetrack. (Photo: Lone Pine Press)
Cettina became part of the team tasked with reconstructing Nassau County’s iconic racing venue from the ground up.There was, however, one major complication. By then, Cettina had moved roughly 75 miles south to Sea Bright on the Jersey Shore.“I went home and talked to my wife about it because obviously I couldn’t commute,” he recalled.Wendy agreed to the unusual arrangement. Cettina began staying during the week in a friend’s basement in West Hempstead and occasionally at another friend’s home in the Bronx near the Throgs Neck Bridge.“Then I packed my bags – and here I am,” he said.For the next two years, Cettina spent his weekdays working at Belmont Park before heading back to the Jersey Shore on weekends.
A dream job for a lifelong fan
Working on the new Belmont Park gave Cettina the rare chance to combine the career he had built with the sport he had loved since childhood.“I don’t know of any other workers that are actually into this like I am,” he said.For someone who once stood at Belmont Park as a teenager placing small bets, the transformation was extraordinary.“It was an unbelievable experience, and the chance for me to build a racetrack was just incredible,” Cettina said.