IN 2003, Roland Betts had a pal in the White House, his Yale frat brother George W. Bush, and a dream to build an upscale golf course in the rolling Litchfield hills to be called Yale Farm Golf Club. Betts — who, against all odds, built Chelsea Piers — also wanted to put up 61 luxury homes on his almost 800-acre site in Canaan and Norfolk, Conn. After years of battling the Army Corps of Engineers and various environmental obstructionists — the project was held up because of the possibility an endangered turtle no one had ever seen might reside there — Betts threw in the towel in April, blaming the economic downturn. Now the property is on the market for $24 million. Listing broker Peter Klemm says, “No other property will afford the same privacy or majesty. It’s truly the find of a lifetime.” The race goes to the turtle!