Sultanina had training problems, including "sore shins" which kept her off the racecourse until she was four years old. She made her debut in a weight-for-age maiden race for fillies over ten furlongs at Salisbury Racecourse on 15 May, in which she started at odds of 9/2 against ten opponents. Ridden by William Buick, she showed her inexperience "raced green" in the early stages but produced a strong finish to win by a neck from the three-year-old Desert Snow. After the race the Normandie Stud's owner Philippa Cooper reportedly told Gosden than Sultanina was the best filly she had ever bred. Buick was again in the saddle when the filly was moved up sharply in class for the Group Three Pinnacle Stakes over one and a half miles at Haydock Park sixteen days later. She started at odds of 10/1 in an eleven-runner field with her opponents including Astonishing (winner of the Princess Royal Stakes), Cubanita (St Simon Stakes, John Porter Stakes) and Moment in Time (winner of the race in 2013). Sultanina started slowly as the outsider Special Meaning set the pace, but began to make progress in the straight and moved into second approaching the final furlong. The Gosden stable's other runner Freedom's Light had taken the lead but Sultanina stayed on strongly to catch her stablemate in the final stride and won by a short head, with Silk Sari in third. Commenting on his decision to ride Sultanina ahead of Freedom's Light, Buick said "It was a very hard choice and there was nothing in it" and added "I knew it was close and I would have been disappointed if she got beat. She was still very green". Philippa Cooper said "I can’t believe it. I didn’t think she’d won. When they called number 11 I nearly threw up!"
