Trained by André Fabre, Banks Hill made her racing debut at age two with a win in the Prix Pearl Cap at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse on October 31, 2000.
She had an outstanding year at age three, winning the Prix de Sandringham at Chantilly Racecourse and England's Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Ascot Racecourse before being sent to Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, There, she gave Juddmonte Farms their first ever Breeders' Cup win with an impressive 5½-length victory in the October 27 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Banks Hill's only win of 2002 came on August 18 in her third start when she captured the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville Racecourse.
After running second to Rock of Gibraltar in the September 8 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, she was sent back to the United States in September 2002 where she ran third in the October 5 Yellow Ribbon Stakes after which trainer André Fabre recommended she be transferred to American trainer Robert Frankel to prepare for the defense of her Breeders' Cup title.
[1] For Frankel, Banks Hill ran second behind stablemate Starine in her return to the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf on October 26 at Arlington Park, and in the final start of her career on December 2, ran fourth in the Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park Racetrack.