• Are all the properties on each of the operators in the plan exactly the same?

    On a guess, I'd be inclined to suggest differences in the ANSI settings possibly causing differences in how the query is returned... but I'm unsure.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning