Group One performer Ringo will contest Saturday's Listed Speight's Mid Ale Great Easter Stakes (1400m) at Riccarton as part of Awapuni trainer Mike Breslin's master plan to secure the horse an elite-level win at Hastings next spring.

"He's only having a very light autumn campaign," Breslin said.

"He's a seven-year-old and we didn't want to leave him out of work for three months. If we did that, he'd take too long to come back up at his age and with his size.

"He'll have this one at Riccarton on Saturday and then go to the weight-for-age race at Wanganui [Listed Ag Challenge Stakes on June 3] and then go out again.

"Hopefully he'll tell us whether he's good enough to target the Hawke's Bay weight-for-age races. If not, he can target the Group Three sprint that he won there last year."

Ringo has won eight of his 33 starts and preceded his Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes placing at Trentham last December with his second successive runner-up finish in the Gr.2 Coupland's Bakeries Mile at Riccarton.

He returns to Riccarton for the Great Easter Stakes, in which Hayden Tinsley takes the ride at 59kg.

"He's only lightly tried and he should get conditions to suit with a slow track," Breslin said.

"He's over 600 kilos when he's racing and around 640 kilos when he first comes back into work. He can get away with one run on top of the ground, but then it gets progressively harder for him on good tracks.

"He's capable of winning a Group One when everything lines up in his favour. That is a slow track and him feeling 100 per cent."

Ringo hasn't raced since finishing sixth in the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile at Trentham in January but did trial at Waverley last month, finishing fourth over 1000m.

"He has always gone well fresh off a soft trial, but they really ran it along that day," Breslin said.

"They went pretty hard in that trial and Hayden said he worked a bit and he blew pretty hard afterwards. I have had to get a bit of work into him since then, but I'm pretty happy with him going into Saturday's race.

"If he gets his preferred slow track on Saturday, they'll really know he's there."