Chris Gleeson free to apply for licence

SYDNEY, Oct 5 AAP - Controversial harness racing figure Chris Gleeson is free to re-apply for a licence after 14 years on the outer.

Gleeson's lifetime ban over the infamous Coloresque incident was overturned in August but a positive swab inquiry from 1996 still had to be heard before he could put in a licence application.

On Tuesday, he was found guilty of three charges relating to Cordon Bloke having an elevated TCO2 level in May 1996 and disqualified for four years.

However because he was serving his lifetime ban at the time the offences occurred it was deemed the penalty had already been served.

Coloresque failed to finish as short-priced favourite in a race at Harold Park on November 14, 1995, and a subsequent marathon inquiry found the pacer's hopples had been deliberately cut.

It was alleged Gleeson's brother Matthew had placed a winning superfecta bet on the race, omitting Coloresque from the first six placings for a net profit of $12,000.

Chris and Matthew Gleeson were both given lifetime bans.

Harness Racing NSW board members voted to lift Chris Gleeson's ban in August, citing Bill And Robbie Waterhouse's return from a lifetime ban after 14 years as a precedent.