On his final appearance of the year Arctic Tern was moved up in class and distance to contest the Prix Thomas Bryon over 1550 metres at Saint-Cloud Racecourse.
Ridden by Maurice Philipperon, he started at odds of 6.1/1 in a field which included Comeram (runner-up in the Grand Critérium), the Aga Khan's colt Kaysaan and the future Epsom Derby winner Empery.
[4] On his first appearance as a three-year-old, Arctic Tern contested the Prix de Fontainebleau over 1600 metres at Longchamp on 4 April and won by three quarters of a length from Roan Star.
He finished fifth when favourite for the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and then ran second to Youth in the Prix Lupin, beaten three quarters of a length, with Empery Roan Star and Manado among the unplaced runners.
On 6 June Arctic Tern was moved up in distance for the Prix du Jockey Club over 2400 metres at Chantilly Racecourse and finished ninth of the eighteen runners behind Youth.
On his final appearance of the season, Arctic Tern started 9/4 favourite for the Prix Perth on 13 November but finished fifth behind the British-trained colt Dominion.
Arctic Tern accelerated halfway up the straight showing what Timeform described as "fine finishing speed" to win by half length from Exceller, with Infra Green a neck away in third.
He started poorly and raced at the rear of the field before making progress in the straight but never looked likely to win, finishing a distant third behind Artaius and Lucky Wednesday.
On his final appearance, Arctic Tern was sent to the United States to contest the inaugural Turf Classic at Aqueduct Racetrack in November but made no impact, finishing unplaced behind Johnny D.[5] There was no International Classification of European two-year-olds in 1975: the official handicappers of Britain, Ireland and France compiled separate rankings for horses which competed in those countries.
In the official French handicap, Arctic Tern was rated the sixth best colt of the year behind Manado, Vitiges, Comeram, Roan Star and Kano.
In the inaugural International Classification, he was given a rating of 90, making him the eighth-best older male horse in Europe, four pounds behind the joint-topweights Balmerino and Orange Bay.