Horseracing tipster Gr8 has made a spectacular start to 2009 on Tip Exchange by backing Darbys Turn to win at Cork at colossal odds of 82.50 on Saturday - a huge punt which three days earlier would have been the second biggest win on the site for the whole of 2008! As it is, it's a marvellous standard bearer for others to live up to in the New Year!

That success puts Gr8 way ahead at the top of the January and 2009 leader boards, but it's time for a quick look back at the major successes of the old year. Awtips eventually sneaked home for the supreme honour of best overall horseracing tipster of 2008, with 153.02pts, followed by S.t.r Racing (146.98pts), Meteor (145.98pts), Laythefav (131.24pts) and Granty (129.40pts). Top tipster for December was Meteor, with 55.77pts. Biggest individual winner of 2008 was Improvers' choice of Iris De Balme to win the Scottish Grand National at Ayr at a cool 140.00 in April.

Yesterday's top racing tipster was Smart Oss, with 4.08pts, and best bet went to Punterboy Places, who backed Vogarth at 8.80 at Southwell. Today's racing is from Lingfield and Wolverhampton - keep an eye out for Rebel City in the 3.40 at Wolverhampton.

In football, yesterday's best tipster was Hideoutracing with 3.95pts. The best overall football tipster of 2008 was Pbc Score Predictor, with 45.77pts, while the December crown went to Soccer Protips, with 9.94pts.