[5] Tanerko's dam La Divine was a half-sister to Chanteur who won the Coronation Cup in 1947 as well as numerous good races in France.
[7] Tanerko began his racing career by winning the Prix Juigné, a contest for previously unraced three-year-olds over 2100 metres at Longchamp Racecourse.
[9] He was then moved up in distance for the Prix du Jockey Club over 2400 metres at Chantilly Racecourse in June and finished third behind Marcel Boussac's Philius who won by two lengths from Saint Raphael.
[2] In September, Tanerko returned from a three-month break to win the Prix du Prince d'Orange over 2400 metres at Longchamp in which he was matched against older horses for the first time.
[2] On his final appearance of the season, Tanerko was dropped back in distance for the Prix de la Forêt over 1400 metres and finished second to the filly Midget.
In the following month, Tanerko was ridden by Guy Lequeux when he contested the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud over 2500 metres and won from the three-year-old Franc Luron, with Haut Brion in third place.