Shaun Spadah was a Bay-coloured Gelding foaled in 1911 By horse breeder Patrick McKenna at Streamstown, County Westmeath, Ireland.

Cleary's brother, Richard, a trainer, provided the successful Irish National Hunt steeplechaser Easter Prize as a sire the following year.

[1] In his formative years, Shaun Spadah became dangerously ill by eating the seeds of a poisonous weed, but was nursed back to health by McKenna's children, making a full recovery.

[2] Cleary subsequently used Shaun Spadah as a hunter, racing in point-to-point, before selling the horse to Mr P Rogers aged around four-years.

[3] Shaun Spadah was an 'Aintree horse', a steady but consistent fencer that benefitted from the attrition rate that the long and arduous Grand National tended to inflict on its large field.

On 18 March 1921, in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary, Shaun Spadah was the only horse from the 35 starters who would not unseat his mount, Dick Rees over the four-and-a-half-mile Aintree course.

At the penultimate fence The Bore dismounted his jockey Harry Brown, leaving Rees free to bring Shaun Spadah home in comfort, scoring victory by a distance.