Aug 31, 2022 3 min read

If good things indeed happen to those who wait, then Jean Rastetter was due for something special.

Rastetter notched the second winning drive of her life on Aug. 19, steering her 8-year-old trotter Gee Wizz George to victory in the $10,000 Great Lakes Amateur Driving Association at The Meadows.

It was the first drive in many years for the 60-year-old Rastetter.

“It’s been so long since I won as a driver, I honestly don’t remember,” she said. “It’s been a long time and I’m sure it happened at a fair. I just don’t know.”

Her last driving win was in 1996 – 26 years ago.

Gee Wizz George, who missed the entire 2021 season, is owned by her mother, Mary Ann, and has been in Jean’s care since birth.

Rastetter said Gee Wizz George was “sore” and “not right” last year. She declined to elaborate any further as to why he missed all last year.

Gee Wizz George used the “Lightning Lane” to gain the victory.

Rastetter moved inside to pass Whiskey Lindy (Scott Betts). Berkeley J (Tom Svrcek) finished second and Windborne Hanover (Robert Barnard) was third. Whiskey Lindy was fourth.

“I watched Gee Wizz George be born,” Rastetter said. “He’s raced off and on. It was a great feeling to win that race. We know each other so well. It was a great feeling for the horse to come back like that.”

Gee Wizz George is a gelding out of Great George Two-Caviar Girl.

The horse has won two of 16 starts in 2022, finishing second twice and third twice. In his career, Gee Wizz George has won 22 times in 93 starts, with 12 seconds and eight thirds. His other win this season came July 13 with Hall of Famer Dave Palone in the bike.

Gee Wizz George finished sixth in his last race Aug. 25.

Richard Rastetter, Jean’s father, was a long-time member of the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association and United States Trotting Association. He died in June 2016 at age 74.

Rastetter, was a Standardbred horse breeder, owner and trainer for several decades. Some of his top horses were Idadazzle, County Treasure and Zorgwijk Kingpin.

Horses and harness racing is the Rastetter family business.

“We’re a small stable, usually between three and five horses,” Jean Rastetter said. “We’ve been here at the Meadows since the second or third year it was opened.

“We’re keeping it going now,” Jean Rastetter said of herself, her mother and sister Amy. “Gee Wizz George is special. He’s been with us his whole life.”

The Rastetters have had all five of Caviar Girl’s foals.

They owned their horses together as a family, with Jean handling the training in recent years.

“Gee Wizz George is sort of like the class clown in the stable – always playing around. You throw a toy in his stall and he’s flipping it around. He likes to have fun.”

Gee Wizz George is scheduled to race Friday in the $11,000 fourth race.