Or Maybe Not...

Argh! The calculations I discussed in my last post may have been based on some faulty assumptions about how sire statistics are reported. Can anybody answer the following question...When BRIS presents statistics on 'leading second crop sires', are they including data only on the horses that are actually part of the sire's second crop, or data on both the first and second crop children of sires whose second crop are currently racing? I had assumed that it's the former, but after looking over the data some more I'm thinking it must be the latter since it doesn't seem like ANY horses have more starters and winners in their 'second crop' year than their 'first crop' year. If so, that's incredibly frustrating and is almost certainly going to mean that research in this area will involve paying for a substantial amount of data and doing a lot more work than I had anticipated. Why does it always seem like BRIS and Equineline go out of their way to present their data in a way that makes it useless for any serious research?