Unraced as a two-year-old she won her first four races in 2011 including the Coral Distaff and the Prix de l'Opéra before finishind second in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
[6] William Buick took the ride when the filly started 8/15 favourite for a handicap race over the same distance at Haydock Park on 9 June and won "very easily" by five lengths under a weight of 131 pounds.
[5] After an absence of three months, Nahrain returned to the track on 2 October when she was sent to France to contest the Group 1 Prix de l'Opéra over 2000 metres at Longchamp Racecourse.
After tracking the leaders, Nahrain looked unlikely to obtain a clear run in the straight before accelerating into the lead in the last 200 metres and held off a challenge from Announce to win by a nose.
[5] For her final run of the season, Nahrain was sent to the United States for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on 4 November and started the 3/1 second favourite behind Stacelita.
After being settled in mid-division by Dettori she took the lead in the straight but sustained her first defeat as she was overtaken in the final strides and beaten into second place by the four-year-old outsider Perfect Shirl.
On 20 June at Royal Ascot her second campaign began disappointingly when she tired badly in the closing stages of the Group 2 Windsor Forest Stakes and came home ninth of the thirteen runners behind Joviality, beaten almost eight lengths by the winner.
[13] Three weeks after her run in Ireland Nahrain ran for the second time in the United States when she was partnered by John Velasquez and started at odds of 5/1 for the Grade I Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park.
The closing stages saw a four-way struggle between Zagora, I'm A Dreamer, Nahrain and Dream Peace, with the British filly gaining the advantage fifty yards from the finish to win by half a length.
The racecourse stewards held an inquiry into possible interference caused when Nahrain bumped into Dream Peace as she angled right on the final turn but left the result unchanged.