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Talented prospect Cradle Mountain and comeback sprinter Menari are scheduled for a thrilling Randwick showdown on May 25.

Opposing trainers Clare Cunningham (Cradle Mountain) and Gerald Ryan (Menari) have named the At Sea Hansdicap (1100m) as the race to start the winter campaigns of both sprinters.

Cradle Mountain, the winner of six of his 10 starts, was set to resume in last Thursday’s Wagga Town Plate but Cunningham cancellled that plan after a foot abscess interrupted his preparation.

The 5YO, off the scene since he finished second to Fell Swoop in the Listed Razor Sharp at Randwick in December, has turned in two impressive recent trials and may have a third before he resumes on May 25.

After finishing second in his first trial at Warwick Farm on April 12 Cradle Mountain showed his class with an easy heat win at Randwick on April 26.

“He had a quiet trial first-up but we did a bit more with him and he ran away from them,” Cunningham reported after the Randwick trial.

He’s coming up nicely. We’ve given him a nice build up so he will be fit and ready to go first-up.’’

Menari is back in training after a suspensory injury saw him sent to stud last year. The rising 5YO is getting a second chance on the track after his fertility rate at stud was less than satisfactory.

The son of Snitzel, with three wins from his eight starts as a two and three-year-old, is set to trial at Rosehill on May 13 before his critical comeback race that Ryan hopes will set him up for a start in the $14 million Everest in the spring.

“I’m very pumped about the horse,” Ryan said. “I believe we haven’t seen the best of him.

“He hasn’t been to the races in 18 months but his attitude has been great and he’s working very well.

“If he can win the At Sea impressively on a good track he might not race again until The Everest.”

Menari had been locked into a slot in last year’s Everest before his tendon issues forced his temporary retirement.