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Active in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, American artist Gean Smith is best known for his paintings of trotting horses. Smith's paintings of the race horses included a depiction of one of the most famous horses of its time. In 1900, Smith painted a horse called Joe Patchen to document the horse's victory and new track record set at New York's Belmont Park racetrack. Joe Patchen was a famous American trotting horse. This horse was as well known to early 20^th century society as the Kentucky Derby and Secretariat are known to us today.

Smith painted an important horse race and placed Joe Patchen's new track record of 2:01 1/4 set on the Belmont course in 1900 directly onto the canvas. Smith captured a moment in sports and equestrian history through this painting. In both American genre painting and the sport of horseracing, Joe Patchen and artist Gean Smith are well known and highly regarded.