Nevin has contenders in Thursday's top two races

Carding mid-November grass races in a Northern climate can be dicey, but Mother Nature could be smiling on a nine-race Thursday card at Aqueduct that’s heavy on turf racing.

Four of the nine races are carded for grass, and while the temperature Wednesday night at Aqueduct could tumble into the 20s, sunshine on Wednesday and Thursday ought to give grass racing a chance.

That could be good news for the barn of trainer Michelle Nevin, which sends live contenders into both allowance races on the Thursday program: Hannah’s Smile in race 6, a second-level grass-sprint allowance (also open to $40,000 claimers) restricted to New York-breds, and Chantry Flats in race 8, an open first-level allowance carded at one mile.

Chantry Flats is an interesting animal. By The Factor, he was tried at distances between 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 miles for four races in a row before being cut back to one mile on Sept. 28, finally breaking through with an overdue maiden victory while making his first start since May. Chantry Flats in his longer-distance starts was inclined to go to the front and fade when challenged, but last time he was outrun by a fast-paced longshot leader, and after initially resenting being held off the lead, Chantry Flats settled into a more relaxed if still exuberant rhythm.

Chantry Flats, who runs with long, bounding strides, bore down on the pacesetter through the final furlong and wound up winning in hand. He was ridden last time by Manny Franco and on Thursday will have John Velazquez in the irons. Chantry Flats has a better chance than the standard maiden-to-allowance starter given the recent change in distance.

Everyonelovesjames figures to set the pace Thursday and clearly is far better than his recent off-turf flop denotes. He finished a close fourth in the $150,000 West Point for New York-breds on the Saratoga turf and will be dangerous if left alone in front, but Chantry Flats and Digital Footprint (the horse Franco rides) have the pace to keep that from happening.

The Chad Brown-trained uncoupled pair of Animal Spirit and Road to Meath both are decent but with form not strong enough to compensate for the dose of negative value inherent in nearly every Brown-trained turf starter these days.

Former Brown assistant Jorge Abreu sends out the once-started Conviction Trade, and though his Sept. 12 debut win came over $75,000 maiden claimers, he ran well enough to merit a second look stepping up in class Thursday. The trio of Clear Vision, Blockade, and Gaugin – the other horses entered for grass – also can’t be ruled out in a very tough race.

The New York-bred turf sprint isn’t much easier, but Hannah’s Smile, Nevin’s offering, returns from a layoff just shy of one year. A break that substantial can put off some bettors, but there’s no easier type of race than a turf sprint for which to have a long-layoff comebacker ready to roll, and Hannah’s Smile reliably comes with contending runs in turf sprints at or about this six-furlong trip.