He was from the eleventh crop of foals sired by Deep Impact, who was the Japanese Horse of the Year in 2005 and 2006, winning races including the Tokyo Yushun, Tenno Sho, Arima Kinen and Japan Cup.

[11] Shahryar's dam Dubai Majesty was a top class performer on dirt in the United States, recording her biggest win when taking the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint as a five-year-old in 2010.

[12] Two days after her Breeders' Cup win the mare was put up for auction at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November select breeding stock sale and bought for $1,100,000 by Northern Farm's Katsumi Yoshida.

[10] For his first run as a three-year-old, Shahryar was partnered by Fukunaga when he was stepped up in class to contest the Grade 3 Tokinominoru Kinen on 14 February over 1800 metres at Tokyo Racecourse.

After settling in fifth place he made progress to take the lead in the straight and held off a strong challenge from Great Magician to win by a neck in a race record time of 1:43.9.

Satono Reinas gained the advantage in the straight before giving way to Efforia but Shahryar, having struggled to obtain a clear run began to make rapid progress.