With regular rider Jason Benbow out with a shoulder injury he sustained in a fall at Moonee Valley last Friday, trainer Wayne Nichols has called on his former apprentice.

Robl served his apprenticeship under Nichols more than a decade ago and the trainer said he was more than happy to have the Sydney rider back on board.

“With Jason’s injury I’ve had to put Peter on, but that’s no loss,” Nichols said.

“Peter’s ridden a heap of winners for me in the past.

“His first ever city winner was in a group 3 aboard Simple As That for me in 1995.”

Nichols is hoping it proves a winning formula again tomorrow in the listed $100,000 De Bortoli Wines Festival Stakes over 1500m.

It will be the longest distance the four-year-old has run over since it’s Stutt Stakes (1600m) failure as a three-year-old.

Nichols said tomorrow’s run was an experiment the stable had been looking forward to.

“The distance is a bit of a query ... initially thought he was going to be a miler.

“The races he’s had over the longer distances haven’t been great, but he pulled up sore after the Stutt Stakes and other things have gone wrong.

“The horse is going really well — he’s thriving at the moment which is why we haven’t put him in paddock like we were going to after those first couple of runs.

“There haven’t been a lot or races around for him but I think (tomorrow’s listed race) should suit him.”

Diplomatic Force drops 2kg from his fourth at Sandown last start where he opened betting as a joint favourite but drifted out to $7.

“It’s hard to say but with a bit of luck he could have probably won the race,” Nichols said.

“He got home really well and he’s back in a handicap with a lighter weight.”

Diplomatic Force is expected to represent each-way value on Saturday with in-form Randwick galloper Causeyacan likely to dominate betting.

The Kevin Moses-trained gelding has won five of his last six starts.