Twenty-five thousand dollars is a nice chunk of change to have drop in your lap. It’s not a life-changing amount of money, but it’s definitely an amount to get excited about

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This Saturday night, one lucky horseplayer will leave The Raceway at the Western Fair District with a cheque in the amount of $25,000 as a result of winning the 2011 edition of the Trot Canada National Handicapping Championship.

Thirty-four players representing thousands of fans that took part in over 50 qualifying events across the country, including online challenges and multi leg events, will compete for the lucrative grand prize.

Standardbred Canada's Marketing Department spoke with a number of players about how they would spend the money, should they be the fortunate individual to be this year’s TCNHC champion.

Here are some of the responses:

• Buy a racehorse
• Buy an Ontario-sired yearling
• Bet half and send my wife south
• Bet more races
• Take my family to Hawaii
• Go on a vacation to Italy
• Buy a new car
• Have some landscaping done
• Take the family to Disney World
• Pay some bills
• Put a down payment on a house
• Have some renovations done at the cottage
• Build a detached garage
• Donate some money to OSAS

The top five finishers in the TCNHC will receive prize money. The runner up will receive $1,000, third place will receive $500, fourth $250 and fifth place will get a $100 cheque.

Players will make $2 Win/Place wagers on 15 races between Georgian Downs, Western Fair and Woodbine Racetrack.

For a complete list of the qualified players for this year’s TCNHC, click here.