Knob Hill Stable
Knob Hill Stable was a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding operation established by Toronto, Ontario businessman Steve Stavro. The stable bred and raced a number of champions such as Canadian Horse of the Year honourees, Benburb and Thornfield. In 1992, Stavro was voted a Sovereign Award as both outstanding breeder and owner. In 1993, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association voted him their North American Breeder of the Year Award.
In 1992 the Knob Hill colt Benburb earned Canadian Horse of the Year and Champion 3-year-old male honours after winning the classic Prince of Wales Stakes and defeating United States star A.P. Indy while winning the Molson Export Million Stakes. The following year, Stavro's filly Apelia was Champion Sprinter and Bold Debra won the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Broodmare. Thornfield and another champion, Saoirse, came later. Thornfield was 1999 Horse of the Year and Champion grass male after winning the Canadian International Stakes. Saoirse was Champion Older Female Horse in 2000.
Although successful at both, Stavro prided himself on breeding, as opposed to buying, winning thoroughbreds. He campaigned such other important winners as Debra's Victory, Granacus, Megas Vukefalos, Schossberg, and Zadracarta. Granacus and Schossberg were winners south of the border. Granacus won the 1988 Grade I Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Race Course, and Schossberg captured the Jerome Handicap and the Philip H. Iselin Handicap.
After his death in 2006, one of his horses he had purchased at the Keeneland Yearling sale, Leonnatus Anteas was awarded the Sovereign Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Male Horse
In 2007, Alezzandro won the Sovereign Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Male Horse
Facilities
- Newmarket, Ontario - 100-acre (0.40 km2) breeding and training facility and Canadian headquarters
- Kentucky - 300-acre (1.2 km2) US breeding and training facilities