Banks Hill is retired

Banks Hill, the champion turf female of 2001, has been retired and sent to Kentucky to be bred, trainer Bobby Frankel said.

The 4-year-old Banks Hill finished fourth in her final start, the $500,000 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park on Dec. 1. Overall, she won 5 of 15 starts and $1,933,651 for Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms. Racing in three countries, Banks Hill won five stakes, including three Grade or Group 1 stakes - the 2001 Coronation Stakes at Ascot, England, the 2001 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Belmont Park, and the Prix Jacques le Marois in August in France.

She was winless in three starts in the United States this year, including a second-place finish in the Filly and Mare Turf at Arlington Park.

Frankel said he recommended to John Chandler, Juddmonte's racing manager, that Banks Hill be retired.

"I talked it over with John Chandler, and he talked it over with the boss," Frankel said. "They said it was okay."